Kumo's Naruto Uzumaki
by SpectreShepard
Summary: This is the life and story of Naruto Uzumaki, a young boy whom fled Konoha at the age of 6, and was taken in by Kumo. Trained by A and Killer B, Naruto will grow up with friends and comrades, and will eventually become one of Kumo's strongest ninja. This is the life and story of Naruto Uzumaki.
1. Chapter 1

Okay my faithful readers. What I just did was delete all of my chapters and post a rewrite for all of the old chapters. I wanted to close up some plot holes, try and improve some dialogue, fuse some chapters together, etc. Not a lot has changed, just a few things. I also haven't added any knew material to this story yet. If you want to read the rewrites, please review and tell me what you think of them. I hope that I did better on them then I did on the original chapters. Thanks for reading and sticking with me. I should have the actual next chapter, chapter 11, out sometime this week or weekend. Till next time.

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Chapter 1

"How many of them are there going to be? Is it too much to ask for them to just not patrol tonight?" A yellow haired boy thought to himself as he hid from yet another couple of ninja that were patrolling the street that he was sneaking down. The ninja weren't looking for people sneaking around, they were just walking and keeping eyes out for trouble, and as a result they missed the small yellow tuft of hair that was sticking out of a bush. The yellow haired boy was named Naruto Uzumaki.

He was sneaking towards the main gate of the village. The reason that he was sneaking towards the main gate was that he had decided to run away from his village. The reason that he was running away was because of all of the hateful glares and curses that the villagers sent his way. They never actually attacked him or harmed him, but they made sure that he knew that they didn't want him here.

Naruto Uzumaki was six years old and he lived alone in an apartment because the orphanage that he had lived in booted him out nearly a month ago. The only reason they gave was that they didn't want him there and that was it. So a nice old man found him and gave him some money for an apartment and some food. Naruto found out that the nice old man was the Hokage.

He was one of the only people who didn't glare at Naruto hatefully and curse him. For a few minutes he thought about how the old man would feel about him leaving. Then he thought back to his reason for it in the first place and decided that no matter how much the old man might be hurt by him leaving, the old man couldn't feel anywhere near the amount of hurt that he felt because of the villager's actions towards him.

"What did I ever do to deserve this crap? I mean, I know I pulled so mean pranks on some people, but I never did anything to deserve this." Naruto had thought to himself as tears threatened to boil over one day after he had gotten his apartment and bought some supplies. First he had been thrown out of several apartment complexes before he found one that would allow him to live in it. Then he had to go to nearly five different stores before he found one that would actually sell him anything.

As he had done many a time before, he thought about how his life would be if he lived anywhere but here. He thought to himself that it couldn't be any worse than what it already was. That was what made him think about running away in the first place. It had taken him about a week before he had decided to actually run away. It took him another week to actually gather the few supplies that he could think of that he would need.

After about thirty more minutes of sneaking and hiding, Naruto finally came upon the main gates. Even though he was young, he knew that there was no way that he would make it away from the village if the gate guards saw him leave. In preparation for this, the young blond boy bought a few things that he could use for a diversion, and hopefully it would be enough to distract them long enough for him to sneak out.

Before he could set up his diversion, Naruto suddenly was suddenly beset with doubt. However, his mind procured an image of a villager glaring at him and telling him to leave his shop. Cold cerulean blue eyes burned with determination as he buried his doubt down deep within himself.

Dashing out of his hiding space for a few seconds, the boy pulled the things he had bought as a diversion out of his pack and placed them around a bend in the path that led to the guard station. The package was a large number of fireworks that were advertised to go off with a big boom. Quickly lighting a few of them that had a large fuse, the boy went back into the bushes and made his way as quietly as he could to the bushes in front of the gate.

Naruto waited with bated breath for the fireworks to go off and he had just begun to worry that they weren't going to go off when a loud bang came from the area that he had left the fireworks. The first bang was followed by several other bangs and the two guard ninja quickly left their station to investigate the sounds.

Quickly, before any of the ninja could return and stop him, he ran out the gate and took off into the forest. As he ran through the forest as fast as his little legs would carry him, he began to tear up and sob. He was finally free from all of the hateful villagers. He would never have to endure their hateful glares or listen to their curses.

"I am never going to go back there. I never want to be treated like that again." Naruto yelled out loud, his voice cracking from the raw emotions he was feeling. He ran for nearly fifteen minutes before he couldn't run anymore and started walking for a while. After walking for nearly 30 minutes, he decided to just sit down on the ground and rest for a while. However, within minutes of sitting down against a tree Naruto was fast asleep, drained from the toll the run, and subsequent march had put on his body.

He slept for nearly four hours before he finally woke up. Ruffling through the small bag that he had taken with him, he grabbed some of the food that he had bought and stored within. Unfortunately, the majority of the food that he had bought was ramen, as he hadn't thought about not being able to boil water to make the cheap food.

He had also bought a few packages of crackers and chips and so he opened one of them and began to eat it. After finishing eating the bag of chips, Naruto stood up and stretched. Once he was finished stretching, he looked around him and realized that he couldn't even remember which way he had come from, let alone which way he should go.

Thinking about it, he didn't even know where he wanted to go or how to get there, and for the first time since leaving he was being beset with doubts. He was worried that he wouldn't have enough food and water and that he would get lost out in the forest. Now all he wanted to do was go back home to the relative safety of his shabby apartment.

However, like he realized earlier, he couldn't remember which way he had come from. All of a sudden he fell to his knees as his body was wracked with sobs. He sat there for nearly thirty minutes before he finally cried himself out of tears. He was so scared, he realized for the first time just how stupid he had been, thinking that he could just run away and that he would be fine.

After a little while longer, Naruto got back to his feet and picked a direction and started walking that way. He might not know which way he had come from, but at the very least he hoped that he could walk in the general direction and be found by somebody. Oh how he wished that the kind old Hokage would just appear and show him the way home.

The next few days were variations of the first, starting with him waking up after a full day of walking mindlessly in any direction, and then crying in fear for a while before finding the ability to stand up and walk some more. Naruto was constantly beside himself with fright. No matter how much he walked, he never seemed to find anybody else, nor did he find any sign that he was close to Konoha. To make matters worse, he had finally ran out of his edible food.

Finally, a day after he ran out of food, he had walked into a clearing and collapsed. He could only go so long without food and it seemed that he had found his limit. The last thing he saw and heard before unconsciousness claimed him was a bird singing as it took to the sky in flight. He never noticed the muscular man with dark skin who was just sitting by a stream rapping and writing in a little notebook.

A dark man was sitting down on a tree that had fallen over a long time ago and had started slowly rotting away. He had a small notebook in one hand and a pencil in the other. He was rapping to himself and waving his hands around in a weird fashion. After he rapped a line that he found to be good he would take his pencil and write furiously in his little notebook.

"Yo, Bro, the dude went down, and then I put him in the ground, oh yeah."Killer B started scribbling furiously in his notebook and when he was finished he put it away and started to gather up his supplies and set out again. He had just finished his mission that A, his brother and the Raikage of Kumogakure had given him, and he wanted to get home as fast as he could. He missed the cold mountain air so much.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a blur of orange and yellow, and he reacted instantly by pulling two of his swords out of their sheaths. He sheathed his blades when he saw the boy collapse onto the ground seconds after walking into the clearing. He slowly walked over to the boy on the ground and poked him with his foot.

When the boy didn't react, B slowly knelt down and put his hand to the boy's neck to check for a pulse. Feeling a slow and steady pulse, B looked the boy over from head to toe, noticing immediately the Uzumaki swirl pattern on the boys t-shirt and the many tears in the boys pants.

"Boy, you look like you lost your shine. Lucky you, I know how to make you all fine!" Bee rapped aloud while waving his arms again. He hurriedly grabbed his notebook and pencil to write down his latest line before replacing them.

Placing his hands above the boys chest, his hands started to glow an eerily shade of green as he performed a medical jutsu that would tell him what was wrong with the boy. He learned that the blond boy was suffering from chakra exhaustion and malnourishment. He wasn't a medic in any means, but he knew a few things, one of which was how to replenish chakra. Slowly, Bee started to pump a little of his own chakra into Naruto's chakra network.

After only a few seconds of pumping chakra into the boy, a seal started to appear on the boys stomach and B immediately stood up and backed away from the boy, a little uneasy as he contemplated the seal. He wasn't a seal master by any means, but he could still make an educated guess as to what that seal was since it was kind of similar to one that he had, a containment seal.

"Gyuki, Mr. Eight, does that boy hold who I think he does behind a gate?"B rapped in his mind to his ever constant companion, the Hachibi, while waving his arms in front of himself.

"Yes." Gyuki replied with a sigh before wondering to himself for like the ten millionth time why he had to get stuck with the weird Jinchuriki.

"Well I'll be damned Mr. Eight. I never thought that I would meet the person who held Mr. Nine behind a gate."B rapped in his mind.

B finally noticed that the seal had receded from sight. Bending down again, he got back to work slowly pushing his chakra into the boy. After he had decided that he had given the boy enough chakra to avoid a very bad case of chakra exhaustion, he sat down and thought about what had just dropped into his lap.

After a few minutes of thinking about what might come from this, Bee looked over at the boy and saw a small smile on the boy's sleeping face. Bee couldn't help but allow a small smile to touch his own and he decided that he would stay here for the rest of the night. He pulled out his sleeping bag and laid the boy down in it. Bee sat back down on the decaying tree, he had a lot to think about tonight.

Time Skip Next Day Around Noon

It was midafternoon the next day by the time Naruto woke up. The first thing Naruto noticed as he woke up was that he was hungry, very hungry. Groaning in discomfort, Naruto opened his eyes, only to come face to face with a plate of steaming rice and spiced chicken.

He looked from the plate to the man who was proffering it to him and then back to the plate. Faster than Killer Bee thought possible, Naruto snatched the plate out of his hands and started shoveling it down. A large chuckle escaped Killer Bee's mouth as he watched Naruto eat.

"The boy might be lighter than a sheet, but a lot of food this squirt can eat." He rapped to himself as Naruto finished the plate and looked at him with eyes as big as saucers, silently pleading for more. Killer Bee chuckled again as he scooped more rice and chicken onto Naruto's plate. After Naruto finished the second plate, he suddenly came to his senses and realized how rude he had been.

"Thank you, mister."Naruto said with a pause at the end, realizing for the first time that he had no clue who he had just accepted food from. He thought back to the events that had brought him here and took a moment to look over the dark stranger in front of him.

The man was tall, somewhere around six feet, and was the most muscular man he had ever seen. He wore a white vest of sorts that left one shoulder completely bare. He wore white fingerless gloves and he had seven blades on his back. After he noticed the blades, he looked up at Killer Bee's face and noticed for the first time the hitai-ate on his forehead.

He didn't recognize the symbol on the hitai, but he knew one thing for sure, it wasn't a Konoha hitai-ate. This was the first foreign shinobi that he had ever met. As he continued to ogle at him, Killer Bee decided to introduce himself.

"The name is Killer Bee, the most awesome ninja you'll ever see, wheee." Bee rapped, while waving his arms and punching the air with one of his fists at the end.

"I told you my name, now you must do the same?" Bee rapped to a stunned Naruto that was still ogling him.

"Umm, Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto squeaked out after he realized that he had been staring at the strange ninja in front of him for nearly a minute after he had asked for his name. He had never heard a person talk like this.

"No, that ain't how it's done, so watch me. You should say something like, I'm Naruto Uzumaki, the most awesome gaki!" Bee rapped watching the boy's shocked expression turn into annoyance.

"Hey, I ain't no gaki, I'm just a little short for my age is all." Naruto said with a huff. He was a little self-conscious about his size.

Laughing to himself at the boy's antics, Bee decided that he wanted to get a few questions answered. It would help him make some decisions. "Hey gaki, where do you call home and what are you doing out here all alone?"

Naruto took a moment to decide whether or not he should tell Bee where he was from and why he was out here, but after a few minutes couldn't come up with a reason not to. "I'm from Konoha, and I, umm, kinda ran away." Naruto said the last in a mumble.

Figuring he knew the answer already, and that the boy probably wouldn't want to talk about it, he decided to leave that subject alone and to ask the boy the question that he had finally decided upon last night. "Hey gaki, you want to come with me back to Kumogakure?"

Naruto sat there and looked like he was wrestling with something huge so Killer Bee decided to give him a few minutes to think it over and went over to the frying pan that he had cooked their lunch in. Naruto was thinking to himself about whether or not he actually wanted to go to another village anymore.

After all of the doubts that he had experienced while wandering the forest, he couldn't help but wonder if things would be better away from Konoha or if he should return to his village. Then he remembered the way the villagers treated him and he made his decision in an instant.

"Hey gaki, you still hungry?" Bee asked as he picked up the pan of rice and chicken right as Naruto was going to give him his answer.

"I thought I told you my name was Naruto Uzumaki, not gaki." Naruto said as he proffered the plate so that Killer Bee could dish out some more.

Again remembering his manners, Naruto thanked Bee for the food. He also gave him his answer. Killer Bee went about rolling up the sleeping bag and putting out the fire while Naruto finished his food. By the time that Naruto was finished, everything had been put up and Bee was ready to set out. Kneeling on the ground, Killer Bee looked at Naruto and told him to climb onto his back.

Killer Bee explained that they would be able get to Kumogakure faster. Naruto didn't feel like arguing since he still felt completely exhausted. Naruto clambered up onto Bee's back and they took to the trees at a pace that only a few ninja could keep up with.

Time Skip Around One Week Later

After signing in at the gate, Bee made a b-line for the Raikage's office. Jumping from roof to roof with a wide-eyed Naruto on his back, Killer Bee finally arrived at the Raikage's office. He knelt down so that Naruto could get down. Naruto looked wide-eyed at all of the buildings set into the mountain, astonishment showing in those deep cerulean blue eyes of his.

Realizing that they were at their destination, Naruto clambered down Bee's back and fell on his butt when his legs gave out from underneath him. Since he had ridden on Bee's back for the entire week, his legs had done this several times on the way here and his butt was really sore from all of the hard landings.

"Owww, that hurt."Naruto said while massaging his butt, causing Bee to have a fit of chuckles.

Helping him to his feet, Bee led Naruto into the building that he said was the Raikage's office. They walked up several flights of stairs before they finally entered a room where a woman was sitting at a desk going through papers. Bee went up to the woman dark skinned woman that he called Mabui and told her they were here to see the Raikage.

After going into tell the Raikage that Killer Bee had returned, she ushered them into the Raikage's office and closed the door behind them. Naruto's eyes became the size of saucers as he looked at the Raikage. The Raikage was a dark skinned man with white hair slicked back on his head. He was wearing a white cloak without a shirt and a pair of black pants. He had a belt on that was adorned with a large gold buckle.

"And I thought that Killer Bee was muscular." Naruto thought to himself as Killer Bee gave his report. The Raikage's body was the purest example of muscle. Naruto figured there wasn't an ounce of fat on the man.

After Killer Bee finished his report, he motioned for Naruto to step up. Killer Bee and Naruto both had looks of shock and disbelief on their faces at what the Raikage said the moment he laid eyes on Naruto. "Bee, tell me something. Why, in the name of the Shinigami himself, did you bring the Yondaime Hokage's brat here to Kumogakure?"

After these words were spoken by A, you could have heard a pen drop in the stunned silence that followed, that is until A felt the need to ask his question once again since no answer seemed forthcoming.

"Answer me Bee, why did you bring that gaki to my village?" After these words were once again yelled at him, Killer Bee took a good long look at Naruto and berated himself for not seeing the similarities in the boy and the late hokage. Naruto, on the other hand, was only stunned silent for a moment, for once his little brain caught up with what was said, he first yelled out that he wasn't a gaki, and then he started laughing hysterically.

"Hahaha, he thinks I'm the Yondaime's son, hahaha, too funny." Naruto said in between the fits of hysterical laughter he was experiencing.

Thinking that the Raikage was only joking and expecting a grin to pop onto the Raikage's face at any time and for him to start laughing at the joke, Naruto started to get an uneasy feeling in his stomach as the Raikage and Killer Bee just looked at him, as serious as can be.

"To think, the gaki doesn't know what he holds behind a gate, and yet he still hand to suffer all of that hate. What's even worse is it was his pops that gave him that curse." Killer Bee thought to himself as he started to explain to the Raikage how he had found the squirt.

While Killer Bee explained everything to the Raikage, Naruto tried to picture himself next to the Yondaime and thought to himself that they did look somewhat similar. "But, if the Yondaime were my father, Jiji would have known that, wouldn't he?" Naruto thought to himself, not believing the the kind old hokage would have lied to him when he said that he didn't know whom his parents were.

Then Naruto began to remember that when he asked Jiji who his parents were, the kind old man had turned away before he answered, and his voice had become rather weak when he answered him. "Damn it Bee, enough with the rhymes. Are you telling me that you think that this boy is the Kyubi's jinchuriki?" Naruto heard the Raikage shout at Killer Bee, dragging him out of his personal thoughts.

Before Killer Bee could say anything else, Naruto spoke in a small voice, still shocked and unbelieving that he was the son of the Yondaime. "What is a jinchuriki or whatever you just called me and what do I have to do with the Kyubi?" Naruto asked as his mind flashed back to the villagers, about how they sometimes called him a demon and said that he killed their loved ones.

Knowing a little bit of history, he knew that the Kyubi had attacked Konoha around the same time he was born. Naruto realized that the villagers must have thought that he was somehow connected to the demon attack.

"Boy oh boy, you mean to tell me that Konoha didn't even tell the boy what he was?" Shouted an astonished Raikage, knowing how the villagers would have treated him since he had seen the same treatment given to two Hachibi jinchuriki.

"How cruel, treating him like trash, and leaving him to wonder why he was treated that way." Thought the Raikage as he started to see tears forming in the corners of the boys eyes.

All of a sudden, Naruto felt Killer Bee wrap him into a hug, and like a dam flooding a lake, the tears began to cascade down Naruto's cheeks. Looking over his shoulder, Killer Bee told the Raikage that he was going to take Naruto home with him, get him situated and asleep and then he would come back and finish the report he was giving.

After nodding his acceptance, the Raikage watched as Killer Bee picked the little squirt up and carried him away. After seeing how Bee treated the boy, even without hearing the rest of Killer Bee's report, he knew that Killer Bee had already decided to take Naruto in and train him. It was just the way his little brother was.

Naruto and Bee

Naruto was still thinking to himself about everything that had been said in that room and everything that it had made him think about while Killer Bee jumped from house to house on his way to his apartment. Finally they stopped on the roof of an apartment complex and Killer Bee pressed his palm to his door. Suddenly the lock on the door began to glow as a seal appeared and then disappeared.

Once the lock stopped glowing, Killer Bee opened the door and walked in only to be tackled back out, twisting at the last to avoid falling on top of Naruto. Dazed from the impact with the ground, Naruto shook his head and finally noticed a young girl with blonde hair that was tied in a ponytail and reached the small of her back, hugging on to Killer Bee's leg.

"Bee, Bee, your home, oh I missed you." The obviously excited blonde squeaked as Killer Bee grabbed her and threw her into the air only to catch her before she landed. Finally noticing Naruto for the first time, with all of the curiousness of a six year old, Yugito immediately wanted to know who the blonde boy in front of her was.

"Bee, who is that?" Yugito asked as she stared at the blonde boy.

As Killer Bee finally put her down and ushered them into the apartment, Naruto decided to introduce himself to the blonde girl in front of him. "Hi, um, I'm Naruto, um, Naruto Uzumaki." Always nervous around other people and never good with introductions, Naruto looked down to the ground, embarrassed that he couldn't string words together to make a decent introduction.

"Hi, Naruto, I'm Yugito Nii, nice to meet you." Yugito said as Naruto lifted his gaze from the ground and settled it back on her. She had none of the problems that Naruto was experiencing when it came to introducing herself to strangers.

"Well, now that you both have met, Yugito could you show Naruto to the spare bedroom, seeing as he is going to be staying with us for a while. Killer Bee said to Yugito.

"Come on, it's this way." Yugito said as she grabbed Naruto's hand, not shy in the least, and showed him to the spare bedroom. Bee told them that he was going to go back to A's office and that he would be back later, but it fell on deaf ears as Yugito was asking Naruto about himself and Naruto was trying to mumble out his own questions.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

"Come on gaki, we have a meeting with A. If you keep him waiting he'll hit you so hard you'll be thrown into yesterday." Bee rapped as Naruto and Yugito were finishing up eating. They were eating ramen at one of the best ramen stands in Kumo and Bee had to admit that the two jinchuriki sure did have appetites. There were about ten empty bowls apiece and if it weren't for the fact that they were about to be late for their meeting with the Raikage, they would have probably suckered Bee into buying them a couple more.

Naruto was currently attempting to slurp down the rest of his noodles as fast as he could and was getting broth everywhere because of it. The ramen store owners had on a horrified face at the mess Naruto was making and Yugito couldn't help but laugh at the scene Naruto was causing. Paying for their meals, hoisting Naruto under one arm and Yugito under the other, Killer Bee made a mad dash to the Raikage's office before the stand owners complained about the mess.

Watching Naruto grumble about not being allowed to finish his ramen, Yugito couldn't help but laugh. Naruto had only been living with them for a few days and they had already become good friends. It helped that they had similar backgrounds.

Yugito had told him that she was the jinchuriki for the Nibi after Bee had told Naruto what he was. She didn't go into detail about her past, partly because she couldn't remember a lot of it, but mostly because it hurt too much.

She got misty eyes as she remembered Killer Bee telling her what she contained within her and the horror that she had felt at first. She still got sad when she thought about how she had been treated for something that someone else had done to her.

Thinking about her reaction made her think about Naruto's reaction the other day when Killer Bee told him. He had told him the morning after he had brought Naruto to stay with them, and she could still feel the anger that came off of the boy as he thought about how the villagers in Konoha had treated him for what his father, the yondaime hokage had done to him.

It had been so palpable and with it she felt an inkling of the Kyubi's power. It had scared her so much that she ran into the other room and didn't leave it until Bee had calmed down. It wasn't like the power she felt Bee radiate, Bee's power felt restrained and moderated. Naruto's power had felt like the complete opposite, uncontrolled and rampant, like it had a mind all of its own.

Shaking her head to rid herself of those thoughts, Yugito smiled when she looked over at Naruto and saw what he was doing. As if feeling her gaze upon him, Naruto looked up at her and smiled mischievously back. Naruto had several of the small water pellets that they had made after they discovered each other's love for pranks. He was slipping them into a few of Killer Bee's back pant pockets.

It had taken them only two days before they had both attempted to pull a prank on Bee at nearly the same time. It had taken them a few more hours after that to come to an agreement that they could pull of grander and more awesome pranks if they worked together. So that started a week that Bee would later refer to as hell week.

After he had finished slipping them in, he looked back up at her and froze at the mischievous grin she had plastered on her face. He saw her slip a few of her white paste pellets, that were designed to implode upon receiving a certain frequency, into Killer Bee's front pant pockets and nearly cracked a rib from trying to contain his laughter.

At seeing him almost break down into hysterical fits of laughter, Yugito had to clutch her own side to keep herself from cracking up laughing. It was a good thing they were being carried by Killer Bee because they probably wouldn't have been able to walk without losing their hold on their laughter.

Somehow managing to calm themselves by the time they reached the Raikage's office, Killer Bee set the two of them down and they proceeded to walk inside. Killer Bee walked up to Mabui's desk and started to flirt with her like he did all of the time. Blushing furiously at Bee rapping his flirts, Mabui led them into A's office and closed the door behind them.

Naruto and Yugito both bowed to the Raikage, while Killer Bee just strode up and sat down with a flop into one of the chairs. Yugito activated the recording she had of the frequency and all of the pellots inside Killer Bee's pockets burst open leaking their contents. Jumping up with an almighty yell when he felt the water on his backside, he rounded on Naruto and Yugito when he saw them rolling on the floor, clutching their sides and laughing hysterically.

Seeing the white paste oozing around Killer Bee's crotch and the butt portion of his pants soaked, A couldn't help it; a chuckle escaped his lips before he could stop himself. Feeling mortified at his reaction, because he had worked so hard to keep up a façade of toughness and grouchiness, A grabbed the two kids by their collars and decided that it was high time he taught these two how to behave.

Hoisting them by their collars, he put one under one arm and the other under the other arm and ran straight at his window that looked out upon the village. Jumping through the window, A landed in his private training grounds with Naruto and Yugito quivering with fear. Dropping them, he walked about two feet away and yelled at them to get up.

"Starting today, you both will begin training to become ninja. I will train you in taijutsu and ninjutsu. Killer Bee will train you in kenjutsu and chakra control. Now, I was going to have you only run five laps today, but for that little prank, you both can go run ten laps around the training ground instead." A yelled as Naruto and Yugito took off, happy to get away from the furious Raikage, even if it meant running ten laps around the very large training ground. They never saw the smile form on his face as they ran away to do their laps.

Time Skip Around Three Days Later

Killer Bee had introduced the two blondes to the rock from hell. Killer Bee was trying to teach Naruto and Yugito chakra control by having them concentrate chakra into one of their fingers, touch the small rock and suction it to said finger and then lift it into the air while maintaining the suction. If they used too much chakra, the rock would start to crack. If they used too little chakra, the rock wouldn't suction to their finger, and if they couldn't maintain the current, the rock would fall.

They were given about one hundred small rocks each to start with and there wasn't a single one that wasn't riddled with cracks. That was the first day. They were given another 100 hundred rocks the second day and Naruto, after cracking his last rock, got up off of the tatami he was sitting on and started grumbling about impossible training regimens. Thinking back to the day after he had arrived here in Kumo, Naruto couldn't help but feel that he had underestimated how much work it was going to take to become a Kumo ninja.

"Hey Naruto, look over here, I finally got it!" Yugito cheerfully yelled from across the room.

Naruto looked over at the other blonde and watched as she waved her hand at him, the rock staying suctioned to her finger the whole time. Yugito thought she heard Naruto grumble under his breath something about blonde girls being showoffs. Laughing at his grumbling, she stood up and walked over to him, intent on rubbing her success in his nose.

At that time, Killer Bee walked into the room and noticed several things. One, Naruto had cracked all of his rocks, again. Two, Yugito had one suctioned to her hand as she walked over to Naruto. Third and final, Naruto was not enjoying Yugito's smug grin in the least.

Fearing a colossal proportioned battle of pranks between the two blonde jinchuriki, Killer Bee decided to step in before things got out of hand. He also wanted to give Naruto the greatest incentive he could think of.

Said incentive was teaching Naruto how to rap in the eternally cool art of enka if he could get the exercise down in a week. Bee immediately felt depressed and underappreciated when both of his students face faulted at his offer.

Feeling down and out at Yugito's success and his failure, Naruto chose that exact moment to leave the room. Making a beeline for his room, Naruto closed the door briskly behind him and sat on his bed, looking at his hands and wondering why he couldn't get it down.

He was channeling the least amount of chakra he could into his finger and still the damn rock would crack. Feeling downright depressed, Naruto didn't even notice when his door opened and Bee entered until he felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up into Bee's reassuring face.

"Hey gaki, don't sweat it." Bee said with an upbeat voice.

He went on to explain that he had the same problem when he was younger. Looking at Bee with an air of hope, he began to wonder why he couldn't do it when he was younger and just as he was going to ask, Killer Bee said the answer to his unanswered question.

"It's like this squirt, jinchuriki have the chakra of their tailed beast slowly mixing with their own and as a result, we jinchuriki have larger chakra reservoirs than normal, but we also lose the ability to easily channel chakra at such low quantities as required for exercises like this one." Bee said after trying and failing to come up with a rhyme to explain it.

After accepting Killer Bee's explanation as the reason for his inability to complete the exercise he remembered after a few seconds that Yugito was a jinchuriki as well. Never one shy when it came to asking questions that he was curious about, he decided that he wanted to know why she could do it and he couldn't.

"Bee, if you and I have trouble because of us being jinchuriki and all, then why doesn't Yugito have trouble as well? How is that she mastered it so quick?"

"More than likely, it is because she is the jinchuriki for the Nibi, and not for a more powerful tailed beast like my Hachibi or your Kyubi. Also, she doesn't have as large of a natural chakra reservoir as you do because of your parents. Uzumaki were always known for their large chakra reservoirs and your father, the Yondaime Hokage, also had unusally large chakra reservoir." Bee said again after several minutes of attempting to make rhymes out of his reason.

Seeing the boy go from hopeful to depressed again, it took Killer Bee a moment to realize why, and when he did, he berated himself for letting his mouth get ahead of his brain. Instead of trying to rap this one, he decided to be serious with the boy in front of him. He knew how to be serious when the time warranted it.

"Hey squirt, don't be mad at your dad for what he did. He had a responsibility to protect his village, as every other ninja and kage has. We all have to make difficult and unsavory decisions at some point in our careers. Also, if you think about it, he probably thought you would be treated as a hero for containing the Kyubi and protecting everybody else."

Killer Bee said this in a light, but serious tone. He wanted to cheer the kid up, but he also figured that he would have to learn about the unsavory parts of a ninja's life sometime, and it might as well be now. It wouldn't do for the squirt to work so hard to become a ninja and then discover that he doesn't have it within him to make some of the bitter decisions that are required of ninja.

"I'm not mad at him for what he did; I understand now why he did it. I just wish that I had known my parents is all." Naruto said with a sad face.

Seeing the kid's sad face, Killer Bee was getting to the point that he didn't know what else to try to cheer the kid up. He was out of his element with this, seeing as cheering up wasn't his element, his element was annoying people. Seeing the boy shake himself and set his face with a grim look, Killer Bee didn't know what to expect.

"Bee, if I get this training completed by the end of the week, will you try and help me learn about my mom and dad?" Naruto said with a hopeful gleam in his eye.

Not expecting that question in the least and wondering how much he could help, but wanting to help all the same, he didn't even have to think on his decision. Bee couldn't help but smile at the boy as he told him that he would.

Time Skip Around Three to Four Weeks Later

Naruto shivered as Killer Bee's blade found its way to his throat for the 10th time today. Bee was currently trying to train him in Kenjutsu, and for some reason, he just couldn't get it down. All of the blades just felt wrong in his hands. His moves came out of choppy and sloppy.

Since he wasn't making any progress in Kenjutsu, he wanted to just go back to his chakra control training. It had been three weeks since he had made his agreement with Killer Bee, two weeks since he had started Kenjutsu training, and not only had he learned to channel chakra at the required level as to suction a rock to his finger, but he had also learned how to push chakra out of his finger and make the rock levitate.

Always one to speak his mind on matters that meant something to him, he decided that he would ask Killer Bee off of his Kenjutsu training. "Bee, since I am not any good in Kenjutsu, can I just not train in it, so that I can focus more time in areas that I am good in." Naruto asked Killer Bee as they both sheathed their blades for the day.

Surprised that Naruto was going to let his lack of apparent skill in Kenjutsu after only two weeks of training in it make him try to drop it all together, Killer Bee took a second to think about how he was going to answer his request.

Finally deciding that if the boy didn't believe that he could succeed in Kenjutsu, then sparring would help him any. "Naruto, I'll let you off of the sparring matches, however I am going to make you continue your katas."

He had finally started talking normally when around the two blond jinchuriki because Naruto and Yugito made it completely clear that if he continued to rap around them that he would wake up one morning and find that the two of them had pulled every single prank they could think of on him. Needless to say, the fright that such thoughts brought to his mind was more than enough to get him to stop rapping every single thing he said.

"Ah, come on Bee, what good are the katas going to do me if I can't ever get the moves right." Naruto grumbled with in a whiny tone.

"The reason you are going to continue with the katas is simple. You are going to be a ninja of Kumo and every Kumo ninja knows Kenjutsu. You may not master it, but with enough practice you should get to the point that you can use it combat." Killer Bee said in a reasonable tone that brooked no argument.

Knowing that he had gotten as good a deal as any, Naruto decided to ask the question that had been bugging him for the last three weeks. "Bee, how am I going to find out about my parents without going back to Konoha?" Naruto asked, feeling a slight twinge of discomfort at the thought of having to return to his old home.

Seeing Naruto's emotions clearly in his deep cerulean eyes, Killer Bee hated what he had to say next. "Unfortunately Naruto, there are only two places that I can think of that we can go to find answers on your parents. One is of course Konoha and the other is a place known as Uzushiogakure. Uzushiogakure was a ninja village located in the Land of Waterfalls, an island off of the Land of Fire. It would be easy to get there, the only problem being that it was annihilated in the third great shinobi war. The only thing left that anybody from Kumo has been able find is ruins."

Seeing the forlorn look that settled upon Naruto's features when Killer Bee told him of the fate of Uzushiogakure, he decided to try and settle some of Naruto's feelings. "Although we cannot learn anything at Uzushiogakure, when you are older and you are a ninja, we might be able to go to Konoha and learn of your heritage. Not only that, but since you are the last known heir of the Namikaze and Uzumaki clans, you should by law, be given clan ownership of all property owned by the Namikaze and Uzumaki clans. For all we know, there might be scrolls containing information about your family within the Namikaze estate in Konoha."

Feeling a little better that not all hope was lost on finding out information on his parents, but really disliking the idea of going back to Konoha, Naruto made a pact to himself right then and there. He would not bow his head and lose all of his family's history and property solely because he was afraid. He would stand tall and face whatever came his way, the same way his father and mother would have done, and the same way Killer Bee would do.

Feeling a lot better about his future, Naruto told Killer Bee that he would be in later that night; that he was going to train a little more. He had suddenly realized that his father and mother wouldn't quit training in an area solely because it wasn't working out for them.

Seeing the steely determination set back into Naruto's eyes, Killer Bee couldn't help but be proud of the little squirt. "Okay gaki, don't train too late, you remember that you have taijutsu training with A in the morning." Killer Bee said before making his way home.

Naruto walked off after acknowledging Killer Bee's statement and unsheathed his blade. Going through the katas painstakingly slow, Naruto tried his best to complete the movements with grace. However, no matter how slow he went, no matter how much he concentrated on his movements, his moves were still too choppy and sloppy.

Naruto didn't realize it but at that moment, he had a silent one member audience. Yugito was watching Naruto train from the corner of the training ground and couldn't help but be amazed at his determination.

When she thought that he was going to give up for the night, he somehow dredged up the energy and the motivation to keep going. For several hours he continued on like this, sloppily flowing through the katas, but continuing on nonetheless.

However, even with his chakra reservoirs being so large, the young blonde boy could only work so much before his body gave out and he slumped to the ground, his sweaty body shivering as he finally noticed just how chilly it had gotten since the sun had gone down.

He had been training for several hours after the sun had gone down and he was regretting not bringing a jacket. He knew how cold nights got in Kumo. He had learned that lesson the hard way after several cold walks home in the middle of the night.

"Well, looks like I should be heading back." Naruto said to himself as he tried to pick himself off of the ground, only for his legs to give out again and to start to fall back down.

Suddenly appearing beside him, Yugito easily caught him before he hit the ground and helped him to stand back up. Always admiring his determination and reluctance to give up, Yugito didn't know why, but she couldn't help but feel happy that she could finally help him with something.

After all, it wasn't often that she was better than the other blonde, they were normally dead even. Smiling at him as she allowed him to lean against her until his legs stopped wobbling; she decided that she was going help him with his training and that she wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"You know Naruto, if you would like, I could train with you in Kenjutsu." Yugito said said with a small smile on her face, hoping that he would accept.

Thinking that she might be only offering to help as a joke, making fun of his pitiful kenjutsu skills, he was surprised that when after looking at her face for a few seconds he detected nothing but honesty. Feeling happy, truly happy, that Yugito wanted to help him with his training, he decided that he would take her up on her offer.

They both felt immensely happy that they had each other. They had both grown to the point in their friendship that they were almost best friends. They spent so much time training together and playing various pranks that the two were nearly inseparable. They had had a few small fights, mainly started through one of them pranking the other, but neither stayed mad at the other for long. Neither one of them wanted to go back to not having a friend their own age.

Watching from the shadows, Killer Bee felt so proud of the two blondes. "Those two will make a perfect team when they get older, especially if their friendship continues to develop the way it is going." Killer Bee thought to himself with a smile. Continuing to watch from the shadows, at a distance where they wouldn't catch him keeping an eye on them, he decided right then and there that when they graduated from the ninja academy, that he was going to talk his brother into allowing him to be their jonin leader.

Time Skip Around A Week Later

Naruto was again being supported by Yugito as they walked back to the apartment they shared with Killer Bee. Ever since that first time that she helped him home and had offered to help him with his Kenjutsu training, they would end up walking home together after long days and nights of training. Half carrying the exhausted blonde, Yugito looked over at him and felt that ever present admiration. His determination was so great that he just wouldn't stop.

Losing her concentration for a second, Yugito lost her balance and the two blondes tumbled into a food stand. Looking at the two kids that had just tumbled into his stand and were currently trying to untangle themselves, the old man who ran the stand couldn't help but chuckle. He knew who they were; everyone in Kumo knew who those two were.

Sadly, a few people were delusional enough to think they were the demons that they contained, but not this old man. "You two look like you could use a little to eat. Here's a bowl of ramen on the house." Said the old stand owner as he dished ramen into two bowls and put them onto the counter.

Finally managing to get up off the ground, the two blondes dusted themselves off and thanked the store owner profusely. After a hard day's worth of training, they were very tired and very hungry. Wasting no time, the two dug into the ramen and were finished within the minute. Looking at Yugito out of the corner of his eye, he couldn't help but be thankful for Killer Bee finding him that day. Because of Bee, he now had a best friend.

"Hey Yugito, if you want more, it's on me." Naruto said with a small smile on his face, glad that he had someone that he could do something like this for.

At hearing Naruto's statement, Yugito's face lit up with happiness. The only other person that had offered to buy her food was Bee, so when Naruto did she was ecstatic. Like many times over the last four weeks, Yugito felt so glad that Bee had not only found her, but that he had found the young blond sitting next to her.

Ordering another bowl and earning a hearty laugh from the stand owner at her bubbly attitude, she couldn't help but compare how her life was now as how it had been. Seeing Yugito frown while she remembered her past life, Naruto couldn't understand what had gone wrong. He was wondering if he had done something that he shouldn't have, but he honestly couldn't think of anything.

When Yugito realized that Naruto was watching her and that he was worried about something, she realized that she must have been allowing her emotions to slip onto her face. Looking over to him, she flashed him a bright smile, and asked him what was wrong.

"I was just worried that I had done something to upset you, because you had gone from being happy to frowning, and since you're my best friend, it is my responsibility to make sure you're always happy." Naruto said an equally bright smile in reply.

Feeling even more happiness since Naruto just called her his best friend, she decided that after they were done eating that she would share with Naruto, something that she hadn't shared with anybody. Finishing their ramen, Naruto took out his little frog wallet and paid for the second bowls. Standing up and thanking the stand owner, they made their way back out onto the busy little street.

Finding a less busy street that would afford them some privacy and would give them a little more time to talk, Yugito grabbed Naruto's hand and led him into the alley. Yugito couldn't have been any happier when Naruto decided to keep holding her hand. She was going to need all of the comfort that she could get to make it through her story.

Taking comfort and strength from the touch of her blonde best friend, Yugito steeled herself for the conversation she was about to start. "Hey Naruto, I was wondering since we're best friends and all, if you wouldn't mind listening to me talk about my past, because this is the first time I have actually felt close enough to someone that I actually want to talk about my past." Yugito said hoping against hope that he would say yes.

Not being able to see her face, but for some reason being able to feel her need for his acceptance, agreed and he walked with her in the dark listening to everything she said, never once letting go of her hand.

"You see, it all started when I was two years old. That is when the elders of my small village decided to seal the Nibi inside me. I barely remember anything from that day, except that once the sealing was completed that the Nibi went berserk and took over my body and rampaged through the village, destroying everything it could lay its claws on. I still remember feeling at the time like I was just watching the destruction, not being able to stop any of it from happening." Yugito said with a small shiver at the end, remembering the feel of the Nibi's power and suddenly feeling very scared.

Sensing his best friends fear and realizing for the first time why she panicked when he had been told about his own prisoner and had released some of its power with his anger, he finally detached his hand from hers.

Feeling Naruto detach his hand from hers, Yugito was scared that he didn't like her anymore because of her past, until she felt an arm wrap around her back and pull her into his chest. Once she was wrapped up in his arms, she couldn't help but allow the tears and emotions that she had been holding in for four years to finally be released. The sobs wracked her body as she cried and cried.

When she had finally calmed down to the point that she wasn't sobbing anymore, Naruto decided that he finally had somebody he could confide his past to. He started talking to her in as gentle and low a tone as he could manage.

"From the earliest I can remember, the people of Konoha had always treated me like I was evil, like I didn't deserve life. None of them were violent to me; a lot of them just looked at me with hate laden eyes and turned away. I could handle the hateful glares. It was the ones that ignored me that hurt me the most. I didn't know why they treated me the way they treated me and one day I had asked one of them. They would just look at me with those eyes so hateful and say something like get lost demon or you killed my child, why wouldn't I hate you." Naruto said with tears in his eyes as he thought about his own past. It took all that he had to stop himself from crying and he would have succeeded had Yugito not done what she did next.

As Yugito saw the tears in his eyes, she wrapped her own arms around him and held him close, telling him how much it made her feel better to be able to cry and allow her emotions out for once. Taking strength from her embrace, Naruto allowed himself to cry.

He allowed all of the emotions that he had hidden so deep within himself to surface and then to be washed away. After they had both finished crying, they looked at each other with wonder, for they both felt happier than they could ever remember.

They didn't feel all of the anger and sadness that they had bottled away after all of those years. They had finally found someone that they could share their troubles with and be understood and not pitied. Finding the strength and the conviction as they walked home, still holding each other in a close embrace, Naruto decided to finish telling her about his past.

"Only one person in the entire village actually showed me any compassion and that was Jiji. Jiji is the third Hokage and I didn't know at the time why, but he acted so sad when he saw how everyone treated me. Now I have a good idea that he had known who my parents were and knew what their wish had been for me. They had wished that I would have been considered a hero and not an outcast. He must have felt so bad about not being able to make the villagers see me as they had wanted me seen. If I ever go back to Konoha, Jiji is the only person that I actually want to see." Naruto said at the end with a note of steely conviction in his voice.

After hearing him finish his story, Yugito felt strong enough to finish her own. Drawing enough strength from Naruto's embrace, she trudged through. "After the Nibi had exhausted her chakra, my body had transformed back and the living villagers all attacked me. I was so young that there wasn't anything I could do and the Nibi was so exhausted that all she could do was try and help sustain me when I was dying in the street. That's when Killer Bee had found me. He was one of the ninja sent to our village when word had reached Kumo about the Nibi's attack. He took me in and had my injuries healed. He gave me a home and he was like a brother to me. If anything, he was at least my first friend. However, he wasn't my first best friend, because that position is yours." Yugito said with a small smile as she and Naruto finally made it to their apartment.

Unlocking the apartment, Yugito and Naruto walked in and proceeded to fall onto the sofa, still wrapped in each other's arms. Laying her head upon Naruto's chest and Naruto laying his chin upon her head, they both fell asleep, not even realizing that they were sleeping together, so happy and drained after experiencing all of those raw emotions one right after the other.

After they had fallen asleep, Killer Bee walked into the apartment and felt so much happiness and joy at the sight in front of him. Both of the blondes were still hugging each other and they both had small smiles on their faces. He knew a lot of the things that he had done in the past were wrong, but he knew for sure that he had done the right thing when he had taken in the two blondes. Predicting a bright and happy future for the two blondes, he left to go get some sleep himself, smiling all the way.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

It had been two months since Naruto had been brought to Kumo and the two blondes were progressing in their chakra control exercises and their taijutsu training at such a rate that A finally decided that the two were ready to begin their ninjutsu training.

So after he had sent Naruto and Yugito flying across the fields for the last time of that day and had called for them to rest, he took two pieces of paper out of one of his pouches. Seeing their eyes light up at the sight of the paper, A realized that Killer Bee must have told them what he had planned for today and he had to force the smile that was threatening to appear on his face away. He had a reputation as a grouch to uphold after all.

"By the looks on your faces, I guess I can assume that you know what these are?" A asked as he handed them each one of the pieces of paper. In answer, both blondes channeled chakra into the paper they held and looked on with happiness as their chakra affinities were revealed to them.

Yugito's piece of paper wrinkled and subsequently burst into flames and was reduced to ash. A watched as Yugito's paper revealed her chakra infinities and felt admiration. A lightning and fire duo was a formidable combo and he knew that she would go far in this ninja world. He was glad that he would have her in his ninja ranks. Then he looked over at Naruto and his paper, his eyes bugged out at what he saw.

Naruto channeled chakra into the piece of paper in his hand and several things happened. First the paper split into two, and then one of the wrinkled and the other got soggy. A was beside himself with shock while Naruto was pumping his fist into the air, ecstatic at the discovery of his affinities.

"Well I'll be, it isn't often that someone crops up with three affinities. It's going to be a bother training him, but the end result might just be a future Raikage." A thought to himself after schooling his features back into his impassive mask.

"Hey Yugito, did you see that, I got three, I got three affinities. Wind, Water, and Lightning, how unbelievably awesome is this." Naruto said with a large grin plastered across his face while holding his paper out so that Yugito could see the slip halves and their separate conditions.

"Wow, Naruto that is so cool. I kinda wish that I had three, but it's cool, because I got fire and lightning and that is just awesome." Yugito said as she pointed to the pile of ash at her feet.

"Well, now that we know what your affinities are, we need to set up a training schedule so that we can properly train you in jutsus of your affinity. Naruto, your wind style is going to take a lot longer to train since we have no true wind masters in Kumo, all we have are tomes and scrolls. However, your water and lightning affinities will be much simpler seeing as we have several masters of those two affinities and their knowledge will supplement your own studying. Yugito, the same goes for your lightning and fire styles. I will draw up a schedule for the two of you and I will give you the names of the jonin so that if you decide that you need their help you can search them out when they aren't on missions." A said as he dismissed them for the day.

Bowing, the two blondes made their way to another training ground that they had been using for kenjutsu and taijutsu sparring for the last three weeks. As they walked, Naruto was looking at the sky and Yugito was looking at the mountains around them, both of them thinking about their affinities and what jutsus they would be learning.

The training ground they had been using for the last three weeks was training ground 23 and the reason they had been using was because it was slightly secluded and set back from all of the other training grounds. Also, the path that led to the training ground was rarely used and the two blondes enjoyed each other's company more when they were alone and could talk about anything with each other without the fear of being overheard.

When they finally made it to the deserted path that led to training ground 23, the two blondes interlocked their fingers and held hands as they continued to walk. It had been about three weeks since that night that they had confided in each other something that they had never told another living soul and they had been holding hands every single second that they were alone. It just felt right.

Not only was it a silent testament to each other that they were there for the other one no matter what, but it was also an outlet for the strange feelings that they were experiencing when alone with each other. They had started feeling these feelings after that night that they had talked about each other's pasts.

Neither one of them had the slightest idea what these feelings that they were experiencing were; they also had no clue that they were both feeling them. All they knew was that it just felt right when they were holding hands.

Finally reaching the training grounds, they made their way over to a tall tree that cast a nice amount of shade and laid their packs out on the grounds under the tree. Once they had relieved themselves of their packs, the two blondes squared off in the center of the training ground and assumed the stances of their respective taijutsu styles.

Yugito had her legs bent and had her arms dangling loose at her sides, her hands curled to resemble claws, her body facing forward. Naruto had his legs bent just like Yugito and his arms held loosely at his sides. However where Yugito was facing Naruto straight on, Naruto was standing with his left side facing Yugito.

The two blondes held their stances for nearly ten minutes waiting for the other to make the first move. They had learned long ago that the one who struck first was almost always the one to lose the spar. They were both so competitive that it went without saying that neither one wanted to lose.

Finally losing the battle of patience, Yugito launched herself at her blonde friend with a feral growl, left arm swinging high so that her cupped hand would make contact with Naruto's carotid artery. However, Naruto was ready for her when she reached him, catching her left arm with both of his hands, his left on the bottom of her arm and his right on top of it, twisted his upper body as far as he could twist it making her feet leave the ground, pivoted on his left foot and released his hold on her arm, throwing her behind him towards a clumb of boulders. Striking the ground with her hands, Yugito was able to twist her body in midair and land on all fours on one of the boulders that she had been tossed towards.

Resuming her stance, Naruto couldn't help but compare her style to that of mountain panthers. She struck with hands shaped like claws at vitals and her reflexes were lightning fast. Naruto knew that for his style to be able to beat hers, he needed to increase his upper body strength so that he could lift her up and throw her over his shoulder instead of just twisting his body around and releasing her arm.

Otherwise he could throw her around all he liked and the result would be the same as it always has been. So he decided right then instead of throwing her, he would try to grapple her. He had watched several jonin ninja sparring together and he remembered on of them grappling another and forcing the other to submit. However, it would require a little bit of trickery to get Yugito with it.

Again waiting for the other one to make the first move, this time it was Naruto who launched himself at Yugito and throwing a punch at her, only for her to block it with a swipe from her left hand to his wrist. That however was what Naruto had wanted her to do and as her hand connected with his wrist, he twisted his wrist and grabbed ahold of her hand, pulling her towards him and off balance.

Falling to the ground and pulling her down with him, he twisted around when she fell and just managed to lock her neck in between his ankles. Naruto held tight to her wrist with his hands, twisting it at a sharp angle, and applied pressure to her neck, until she tapped Naruto on his ankle signaling that he had won.

Standing up and helping Yugito to her feet, the two blondes smiled at each other's progress. They were both continually improving and it was mainly because of their friendly spars. "Whew, Naruto you have no idea how close you were to getting me with that little throw of yours. If I hadn't have been able to hit the ground like I had, I would have been sporting some ugly bruises for a while. I think that was one of our best spars, don't you." Yugito said as she and Naruto walked over to their packs by the tree.

"Yeah, that was one of the best we have ever had. You seem to have gotten that midair reversal down." Naruto said with a proud smile on his face, since it had been him who had made her think about doing something like that after he had tossed her like that for the first time in their spars. He had realized then that she had the reflexes to pull something like that off and the reason for the spars was to improve each other's taijutsu so he didn't mind pointing something like that out.

"Well, I have certainly had enough practice, since that seems to be your favorite way of stopping my attacks. Anyways, you ready to practice the kenjutsu katas?" Yugito asked with a wistful grin on her face as she tried to remember just how many times he had thrown her like that. Realizing that it had been too many to remember, she grabbed her blade from her pack and while Naruto grabbed his own.

The two blondes practiced their katas for about two hours and then did a small spar. Naruto had just felt cold steel touch his collarbone for the tenth time tonight when Yugito began to collapse from exhaustion. Realizing that in his determination to get better in kenjutsu, he had forgotten that Yugito didn't have as much chakra as he had and that she had exhausted a lot of it earlier today in training with A.

Catching her before she hit the ground, Naruto looked at her with worried eyes until her hand reached out and she touched his cheek with it. "Thanks for catching me." Yugito said just as she passed out from exhaustion. Kneeling down and putting her on his back, Naruto went back to the tree where they had laid out their packs and grabbed their things, holding them under his arm as he began the long walk home.

Time Skip Around A Week Later

A had told Naruto that he wouldn't teach him any Raiton jutsu until he had managed to transform enough chakra into lightning chakra to power three consecutive rank C raiton jutsu. First he had told Naruto to picture an electric current going through his chakra network and picture pushing said current to the palm of his hand.

It took him about two days before he had finally begun to channel lightning chakra, but he wasn't producing enough of it to even make hair stand up. So A had him continue to picture the current being pushed into the palm of his hand until he progressed to the point that he was able to produce a steady stream of lightning chakra, strengthening his reserves while at the same time strengthening his control over his lightning chakra.

This had taken him another five days to accomplish and once he was able to produce an amount needed to pull off a level c rank ration jutsu three times, A decided that he was ready to learn his first Raiton jutsu.

"Now watch closely gaki, cause I'm only going to show you this once. This jutsu requires no hand seals. All you have to do is channel lighting chakra around your fist and strike your enemy. The lightning will add to the strength and the speed of your punch. Now watch, you channel chakra like this." A said as he channeled his lightning chakra around his fist.

After he had finished channeling his chakra and he was sure that he had the blond boy's attention, he launched himself across the training field to one of the practice dummies that were set up for taijutsu and kenjutsu practice. He had started about five feet from the dummy and just before his fist connected in a downward arc with the dummy's head, he suddenly shouted out, "Lightning Release: Lightning Punch."

As his fist connected with the dummy's head, Naruto saw A's fist go straight through its head and watched as the lightning enhanced punch obliterated the dummy's head and chest. "Wow." Was the only thing that the completely shell shocked blond could utter as A's hand returned to normal and the Raikage observed the damage done. Suddenly picturing himself punching an enemy ninja with a lightning chakra enclosed fist, he couldn't help but grin at the image.

This completely made up for how downcast he had been when he had been given the scrolls and tomes on wind chakra. Having had very few wind users, Kumo didn't have much on hand for training and what they did have didn't even begin to scratch the surface of what it would take for him to learn to control wind chakra.

"Okay, now let's see you try." A said as he motioned for the boy to stand in front of another dummy. Naruto stood straight in front of the dummy and closed his eyes as he pictured that now familiar image of an electric current going to his hand.

However, he didn't stop there this time and continued to picture it enveloping his fist and when he opened his eyes he looked at his fist with wide eyes. His fist was crackling with barely controlled electricity and looking back at the dummy, he launched himself at it with a feral growl yelling out loud, "Lightning Release: Lighting Punch."

Being a few inches shorter than the dummy, he decided to strike it in the chest instead of the head and as his fist connected he felt his chakra discharge and watched with amazement as his fist shredded a hole in the center of the dummy. As he pulled his hand back through the hole he had just made and backed up to view his handiwork, Naruto felt a little disappointed at the level of destruction when he compared his to A's.

Sensing the boy's disappointment, A quickly congratulated him on such a successful first try. "Not many are able to actually punch through the dummy on their first and even second attempts. You have to channel a lot of lightning chakra into your fist for the level of destruction that you caused. Now, try it again, but this time I want you to perform an uppercut to the dummy's chin." A said as the boy plastered a huge smile on his face, happy that his first attempt was much better than many others.

Deciding to try and channel the chakra without closing his eyes, Naruto again pictured the current enveloping his fist and when the lightning crackled into existence he failed to notice the wide eyed look that A gave him.

"He was able to channel the chakra with his eyes open. The last person to be able to do that was Darui and he was being personally trained by the Sandaime Raikage." The Raikage mumbled under his breath to himself as he watched the boy launch himself at another dummy and swiftly deliver a flawless uppercut after shouting the jutsu's name for a second time that day.

Naruto was beyond happy as his fist completely destroyed the dummy's head, he was ecstatic. He knew that he was a little above average when it came to taijutsu. He knew that he was average when it came to chakra control, but he also knew that he was way below average when it came to kenjutsu. So when he began to realize just how above average he was at lightning ninjutsu, he felt as if he were actually making up for his subpar performance in kenjutsu, that his skills were actually evening out. All of a sudden, Naruto felt extremely tired.

"Okay Naruto, today's training session is done. I'll meet you tomorrow for your taijutsu training." A said when he saw Naruto start to show the strain of repeated lighting punches. After forbidding Naruto to train on the lightning jutsu by himself, Naruto bowed to A and made his way to training ground 19.

He knew that he wasn't supposed to train in the lightning punch, but he could always train in controlling his lightning chakra. He also had an idea for a wind style justu, but that would have to wait until he actually learned to channel wind chakra.

Finally reaching training ground 19, Naruto set his pack down and set to doing some stretches. While he stretched, he thought about how he could incorporate his lightning chakra into his fighting without having to use so much for a jutsu like the lightning punch. Also, since his fighting style leant towards disabling more than destroying and killing, he wanted to find a way to limit the devastation of his blows.

Deciding that he would train himself so that he could actually limit the amount of lightning chakra that discharged from his punches, he figured that he would try it and see what happens and go from there. He found a spot on the ground and sat down.

Holding his hand in front of him, he pictured the current enveloping his hand and watched with the same amazement he had felt earlier as his hand was suddenly enveloped in crackling lightning chakra. Getting back to the task at hand, he began to focus the chakra into his palm instead of enveloping his entire fist. He watched with widening eyes as the chakra enveloping his fist slowly crept back until only his palm was crackling.

Standing up, he turned around and faced one of the dummy's that was near where he had been sitting, and continuing to focus the lightning chakra into his palm, he began to force himself to try and limit how much chakra he poured into it.

Seeing the amount of crackling electricity recede even more, he finally decided that he was as ready as he was ever going to be and ran at the dummy. Delivering a palm thrust to the dummy's chest, he yelled out loud, "Lightning Release: Paralysis Palm."

Seeing the electricity arc across the dummy's chest instead of destroying it, he knew that he had succeeded. More than likely, the electricity running across a human's body would freeze their muscles giving him a chance to knock them unconscious.

After he had come to this conclusion, he realized that he wouldn't always be able to avoid causalities and because of that thought and his general training regimen of training until he drops, he decided to train a bit more in the lightning punch jutsu, completely forgetting that the Raikage told him in no uncertain terms that he wasn't allowed to practice that jutsu anymore today.

This time, however, he was going to channel the chakra into both his fists and perform a two punch combo to the dummy's abdomen. Channeling lightning chakra into both his fists, he realized that when channeling chakra into more than one place, he didn't have half of his normal control.

Shrugging it off for now, Naruto didn't notice his sudden immense drop in chakra until he had already leapt at the dummy. Delivering his two lightning enhanced punches to the dummy, Naruto yelled out, "Lightning Release: Lightning Punch x2."

After he stepped back to observe his handiwork, he finally felt the drop in his chakra levels from using too much lightning chakra in those last two punches. Just as he blacked out, he thought to himself, "Crap, here we go again. Yugito and Bee are going to be so pissed."

It had taken only a few days less for Yugito to progress to the point that she could learn the lightning punch jutsu. Her chakra control was superb. She had watched A do it, but for some reason she couldn't actually generate enough chakra to do much damage. All she was able to do was produce enough to increase the speed of her attack and take a nick out of the dummy's chin.

She had secretly watched Naruto learn the lightning punch cause she didn't have anything better to do and she couldn't help but feel happy for the blond boy. She was happy that Naruto had been able to perform the jutsu to such powerful proportions. She continued to watch him as he walked to training ground 19.

Knowing Naruto, she knew that he either would train in something similar to the Lightning Punch jutsu or that he would completely go against the Raikage's order and practice it. She felt that it was her responsibility to watch over the reckless blonde and to keep him from getting hurt.

Deciding to follow, but not to reveal herself to him, she tried to come to grip with her emotions. She had no idea why she felt like she had to protect Naruto, other than the fact that she would miss him sorely if something had happened to him. He was her best friend after all.

Watching Naruto sit down and start channeling chakra into his fist again, Yugito decided to find a place to sit as well. Deciding that they might be here for a while when you consider Naruto's chakra reservoir, she propped her pack against a tree stump and sat on top of it.

Deciding that she might as well do something useful while watching over the reckless blonde, she began to channel chakra around her fist. Unlike Naruto, she had to close her eyes and steady her thoughts and emotions to gain the level of control needed to cloak her fist in cackling electricity.

While channeling chakra into her fist at a steady rate to increase her control over her lightning chakra, she watched with wide eyes as Naruto began to control his lightning chakra to such a point that it receded to only coating his palm. She watched as Naruto struck at the dummy and saw the electricity arc across the dummy's torso.

When she saw all of that an idea struck her. Ignoring the blonde for a moment, she closed her eyes and pictured the chakra that was cloaking her fist recede to cloak only her fingers. Opening her eyes, she grinned as she saw that she had succeeded in only cloaking her fingers.

Standing up from the tree trunk that she was sitting on, she took her normal fighting stance and launched herself at another tree, and allowed her fingers that were in the shape of a claw to rake across the tree. She couldn't believe her eyes at what she saw before her.

Where her fingers had merely grazed along the trunk, a huge and deep gash ran through it. Looking back down at her fingers that were no longer cloaked in the chakra since it discharged at the tree, she had to stifle down an urge to jump up and down and shout triumphantly.

All of a sudden, Yugito felt a sharp increase in chakra output from her reckless blonde friend, and as she turned to look in his direction, for the second time that day she couldn't believe what she saw. Naruto had both his fists cloaked in lightning chakra and had just performed a two hit combo on the dummy's abdomen.

The image of the completely destroyed dummy's abdomen barely registered in her mind as she saw Naruto start to collapse after using up too much chakra. Rushing to him as fast as she could, she caught her blonde friend before he hit the ground. "Naruto, are you okay, Naruto?" Yugito said with a stitch of fear in her voice.

She had just been thinking about how she would feel if something ever happened to her blonde best friend and she was starting to panic. Biting her lip to calm herself, she put her ear down to Naruto's chest when he didn't reply to her urgent question and listened for a heartbeat. She heard it, a strong thump that continued a regular intervals and she let out her breath in a relieved gasp, realizing for the first time that she had even been holding her breath.

Grabbing her blonde friend, she wanted to hug him to death and yet beat him into a bloody pulp at the same time for making her worry like that. Deciding to just hug him, she buried her face in his chest and stayed like that for about five minutes.

Realizing that he wasn't going to wake up anytime soon, she stood up and put him over her back. Biting back a groan of protest at the dead weight that she was now burdened with, she started to trudge off to the tree where Naruto had laid his pack.

"Naruto, I know you can't hear me, but I'm going to say this anyway. You feel like you're getting fat." Yugito said with a small chuckle. Grabbing his pack and returning to grab her own, she started off in the direction of their apartment, only to have someone pick Naruto up off of her shoulder. Turning around, Yugito immediately fell into a fighting stance to protect Naruto from whoever was trying to take him from her.

In front of her was a large man with a mane of unruly white hair, wearing a hitai-ate that had horns shaped around it with the symbol for oil on it. He was standing on top of a human sized toad wearing armor and bracers that had Naruto wrapped in its large and extended tongue. Before she could do anything, two more figures erupted from the forest and stood between her and the stranger, however they were facing away from her and towards the stranger.

"Lord Jiraiya, although we have a truce with Konoha at the moment, I'm pretty sure that you're breaking several international laws that could cause another war between our two great nations. So if you would be so kind, please have your toad release the boy and come with us so that we can talk." The figure on her left, whom she now realized was none other than A himself, said as he looked at the man named Jiraiya with a little mixture of hope and worry. The second man just stood quiet, his hand resting on the hilt of one of his seven blades and Yugito realized with a start that not only was the Raikage there, but Bee was as well.

A worried that Jiraiya was attempting to kidnap Naruto back, but he was hoping against hope that the Sannin was in fact just keeping an eye out and trying to protect the young blonde. However, whichever one it was, Jiraiya obviously didn't want to fight not only the Raikage, but the Hachibi jinchuriki as well, and he ordered his toad summon to give Naruto back to Yugito. He jumped off of the toad and the toad dispelled itself.

With a deep and cocky voice, Jiraiya decided that time to introduce himself, even though it seemed that at least one of them knew who he was. "I am the legendary toad sage of Mount Myoboku, one of the three legendary sannin, the desire of every woman that walks this earth and the terror of many of its men. My name is Jiraiya." Jiraiya said as he did a weird foot tapping dance, clacking his geta against the cold hard ground.

Seeing all three of the people in front of him sweat drop at his antics, he decided to get serious which resulted in his voice getting deeper and him standing to his full height. "For your information, what you have already done could start another war between our nations. If Konoha knew what I knew, certain people would strike at Kumo faster than Naruto hear eats ramen.

As he motioned to the boy, all three of the people before him couldn't imagine an attack that fast, for they all knew that Naruto could slurp down a bowl of ramen within twenty seconds. Jiraiya looked at each of the people in front of him and his eyes and voice softened when he rested them upon Yugito. He had been keeping an eye on Naruto ever since he had received word through his spy in the Kumo council that they had recovered the Kyubi's jinchuriki. That had been about four weeks ago.

He had first prepared to kidnap Naruto back and take him back to Konoha. That is until he saw how happy Naruto was here. Not to mention how he seemed to feel about this particular blonde that was holding onto him like her life depended on it.

"I'll be honest with you A, I've been here for three weeks and I haven't the slightest intention of taking Naruto back to Konoha." Jiraiya said after observing how Yugito held onto Naruto. Seeing the disbelief in their eyes, jiraiya sighed to himself. "This was going to be one long talk."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Jiraiya was leaning against the window that overlooked Kumo from the Raikage's office while he explained to A and Bee what he was doing in Kumo. Sighing to himself, Jiraiya started with what had happened in Konoha when Naruto had gone missing. He had explained how he had been contacting a spy in another village when Naruto had chosen to run away and he hadn't been there to keep the boy from running away.

He explained how it had taken a week for word of Naruto going missing to reach his ears and how he had put everything else aside to find his deceased student's son. He explained how before Naruto was born, he had been named Naruto's godfather and how he felt duty bound to make sure no harm came to Naruto. Suddenly there was a blur and Yugito launched herself at Jiraiya. Repeatedly hitting him in the stomach while simultaneously sobbing, she asked the question that came to her mind when Jiraiya had said he was Naruto's godfather.

"Why, if you were Naruto's godfather, did you allow him to have the life he had?" Yugito cried out as Bee grabbed her and held her to him, softly talking to her to try and calm her down.

Jiraiya's eyes got wet and soft again as he rested them upon Yugito. "Child, believe me when I say this, I wanted nothing more for Naruto to have the greatest childhood ever. However the Sandaime Hokage, in his infinite wisdom, decided that it would be too dangerous for Naruto to live with me. He also considered it too dangerous for him to even know who his father was." Jiraiya said with a soft voice to Yugito, however you could hear the heartbreak and anger in his voice when he mentioned why Naruto's life had been the way it had been.

A and Bee could tell that Jiraiya had disagreed with the Hokage's judgement, but they knew that a ninja had to follow their Kage's order no matter what. Jiraiya continued his story, elaborating on how he had stopped several assassination attempts on Naruto's life and had even given funds to others so that they would either give things to the boy or feed him. He had been forbidden by the Hokage from taking a more proactive role in Naruto's life and so had to do the best he could from the shadows.

That was when a hopeful and happy gleam entered into Jiraiya's eyes. "I had originally planned on taking him back with me to Konoha." He said as he watched Yugito walk back over to a still unconscious Naruto and sit down next to him, grabbing his hand and holding it tightly. Smiling for the first time in front of his audience, Jiraiya decided to drop his bomb.

"However, I have no desire to take him back to Konoha anymore." That statement earned shocked expressions from everyone present and he decided to continue. "The reason I want him to stay here is that I see he has finally made at least one friend and he is finally beginning to find happiness." He smiled as he saw looks of understanding and relief cross each of their faces. "They finally understand." Jiraiya thought to himself with a small content sigh.

"You have my word that I will not tell anybody in Konoha about Naruto's location and I only have two requests." Jiraiya said after a slight pause. "One, because I am disappointed in my previous attempts to keep Naruto protected and because I couldn't be there for him when he needed me, I would appreciate it if you would not tell him about me, for I do not believe that I could bear to tell him why I couldn't be there for him, and I know that there is no meeting he and I could have that could exist without that conversation." Jiraiya said in the lowest voice that he could muster, deeply ashamed in himself.

"Second, I am going to return to Konoha and hopefully return within three weeks' time, and since I cannot train him myself without meeting him, I would like for you to give him some scrolls that belonged to his father that I will return with. These scrolls contain the legacy of the Namikaze clan and if I am not mistaken, there are also some Uzumaki clan scrolls as well." Jiraiya said the last bit with a bit of pride in his voice, since if he couldn't train and be there for him, he could at least give him his inheritance, in a roundabout manner of course.

Agreeing to his terms since there really wasn't anything in them that could harm Naruto or the village, A decided he was about to do something that he might regret deeply in the future, but he didn't care. "Jiraiya, since you have done so much for him as it is, even though you were commanded by your kage to do no more, I will allow you to come to Kumo anytime you like if you ever find the desire to meet Naruto. If you don't, you are always welcome to come and at least observe him from the shadows, so that you know he is happy and safe."

Nodding his acceptance of A's generous offer, Jiraiya turned to leave, but remembered something at the last second. Turning to back around, he bit his finger and quickly formed the seals for the summoning jutsu. A large puff of smoke appeared and when it disappeared, in its place stood a small orange and black toad. The toad looked around itself and then looked at Jiraiya, cocked its head, and said in a croaky voice. "Jiraiya, why did you summon me of all toads, to Kumo."

After he said it, his eyes landed upon Naruto and he answered his own question before Jiraiya could. "Oh, I see you found Minato's son. By the looks of it though, I'm guessing that you aren't taking him back to Konoha, which makes me come to only one conclusion seeing as the company you are keeping reek of the Hachibi and Nibi. You want me to give them the seal so that when Naruto is ready to train to control the Kyubi, they can unseal it and he can finally partner with it. Am I right, or am I right?" The small toad said with cocky grin and voice as he looked back at a chuckling Jiraiya.

"Yes, you are right. Also, I have a request that is, shall we say, unprecedented. I would like for you to seal yourself inside Naruto's stomach." Jiraiya said after he forced himself to stock chuckling, Gerotora was always a cocky little toad.

"Does he hold our contract?" Geortora asked as he squinted his eyes in thought.

"No, however, even though he does not hold our contract, I and his father, that seals creator, do and I am sure that the best place for the seal would be with him. So that if anything ever happens to me, the seal is not lost since you would then be bound to Naruto as well." Jiraiya said after a moment, he had given this a lot of thought earlier and he was sure of his decision.

Seeing that Jiraiya had made up his mind, and not particularly caring who's stomach he made his home in, he decided that he would grant Jiraiya's wish and after a few quick hand seals, he launched himself at the unconscious boy's open mouth.

Having known what was coming, Jiraiya had closed his eyes so that he wouldn't have to see the disgusting sight that was before each and every one of them. A, Killer Bee, and Yugito weren't as lucky as they watched in disgust as Gerotora forced himself down Naruto's throat.

As Gerotora's feet finally disappeared, A, Killer Bee and Yugito all turned with wide eyes as Jiraiya suddenly spoke, "When the time comes for him to learn to gain complete control of the Kyubi's chakra like you have done, perform the seals and Gerotora will emerge again. However, I warn you, he emerges from Naruto the same way he came in so make sure he is unconscious when you do it. I can only imagine the thoughts that would go through his head if a toad suddenly popped out of it." Jiraiya said while looking at Killer Bee, knowing that if Naruto would ever learn to control the Kyubi's chakra, that the man in front of him would be the one to teach him.

Walking to the door and opening it, Jiraiya spoke up one last time before he left, "Remember, please don't tell him about me." Looking back over his shoulder his eyes landed upon Naruto one last time and then he looked back up and into Yugito's black eyes. "Keep him safe and please be a good friend for him." Jiraiya asked with a pleading voice. Yugito nodded as her eyes began to mist over again and she watched as Jiraiya faced the door again and walked away.

Time Skip Around Two Days Later

Naruto was having one of the best dreams he had ever had before he woke from his unconscious state. He was dreaming about a land where ramen was free and there was an unlimited supply of the delicious food. He was currently eating a bowl of teriyaki chicken ramen and suddenly everything around him started to shed a very bright light. The next thing he noticed was that he was extremely hungry.

The next thing he noticed was that he had an incredibly disgusting and slimy taste in his mouth and lying still for a moment, he tried to think of what could cause him to have such a disgusting taste, but the only thing he could think of that might cause him to experience said disgusting and slimy taste would have been like swallowing a toad or some other slimy creature. He dismissed that idea almost immediately because it was so farfetched. It was almost laughable, the idea of him swallowing a toad. All he ate if he could help it was ramen.

Opening his eyes, he decided to close them again immediately because the sudden bright light made his eyes hurt a lot. Cracking his eyelids, he allowed his eyes to adjust to the light before opening fully again. Once he opened them again, he tried to sit up and regretted that almost immediately as his vision began to blur and he started to feel lightheaded. Placing his head between his knees, he waited for his vision to come back and sat up slowly.

That's when a blur came out of the corner and someone launched themselves at him, nearly smothering him with the hug they were giving him. Recognizing the feel of the arms that were busy squeezing the life out of him, he started to gasp for air. Realizing that he couldn't breathe, Yugito loosened her hold on the blonde boy in front of her, but by no means did she relinquish her hug. Finally catching his breath, Naruto returned the hug before he remembered the events of his training exercise.

"How long was I out?" Naruto asked casually as if the occurrence of him fainting wasn't anything new to him, which it just so happens that it wasn't, since he had fainted on several occasions because of chakra exhaustion.

"Two days." Was Yugito's short answer, which was muffled because of her burying her face in his chest.

Sighing, Naruto attempted to stand up, but was pushed back down by one very protective blonde. "I don't think so; you need to recover your strength, which means resting. Knowing from experience that it wasn't wise to argue with her, also knowing that it didn't matter what he did since she would make him stay in bed, Naruto obliged without an argument.

All of a sudden, there was a large growl, which emanated from Naruto's stomach. Almost as if in answer, there was another large growl, this one emanating from Yugito's stomach. "When did you last eat?" Naruto asked Yugito as he looked into her deep black eyes, intent on calling her on her foolish disregard for her own strength.

Looking slightly guilty, Yugito decided to ignore his question since he more than likely knew that she had been by his side since he had here. Instead, she decided that now that he was awake, that she would go and fix them both something to eat. Telling him so, she let go of him for the first time since he had awoken and left for the kitchen.

Deciding that he needed something healthy, even though she knew what he really wanted, she grabbed a bowl and cut some fruit, making a fruit salad. Grabbing some sushi out of the fridge, she placed all of the food upon a platter and went back into Naruto's room, only to scream at him for getting up and getting dressed.

Placing the food down ever so slowly onto the bed, Yugito stood back up and landed her fist on Naruto's skull and began telling him in a loud voice all of the reasons that he should still be in bed. Rubbing his head, Naruto thought to himself that he should have seen that one coming; she had done it to him enough times.

Pausing for a breath in the middle of her tirade, Naruto did the one thing that he knew would get her to calm down; he grabbed her and hugged her. Mouth slightly agape, Yugito felt a familiar warmth in her stomach grow in intensity. Directing her, he led her to the bed and sat them both down, still holding her in his arms and deciding that she had completely calmed down, finally released her and picked up the platter of food.

Grabbing a piece of fruit and grimacing when he noticed the lack of ramen, he put it to the still stunned Yugito's mouth and watched as she slowly began to chew on it. Smiling his bright smile, Yugito couldn't help but feel that what she had felt yesterday and earlier today was unfounded.

She had been so worried that he wasn't going to wake up for some reason and now that she thought back on it, her feelings had been so unfounded and she was normally so logical, that she began to wonder what it was about the blonde eating next to her that made her this way.

Pausing in his pursuit of the fruity deliciousness that was in front of him, Naruto began to wonder what had happened while he was out. Deciding to ask, Naruto did just that.

"Oh, nothing much, other than making me so worried." Yugito said as she thought about Jiraiya and the promise that he had extracted from her, A and Killer Bee. Deciding that she would try and make him guilty for the way she had ended up feeling, she hoped that he wouldn't continue his line of questioning so that she wouldn't have to break her promise, because she wouldn't lie to him for all the money in the world.

It seemed that somebody was smiling down upon Jiraiya, because Naruto didn't continue his line of questioning, making it to where Yugito could keep his secret. Naruto had indeed began to feel guilty as he thought about how worried he must have made her, which led him to thinking about what had made him lose consciousness. His mind flashed back to the events right before he fainted and he suddenly grinned as he remembered the results of his individual training.

"Hey Yugito, I know you want me to rest and all, but I want to spar. So either you spar with me or I am going to just go beat up some training dummy." Naruto said with a hint of his normal determination in his voice and a steely glint in his eye. Yugito heard the determination in his voice and seeing the glint in his eye, she sighed before agreeing to a spar after they finished eating.

Nodding his head at her decision, Naruto began eating his food as fast as he could and it wasn't long before the platter was devoid of food. Grinning at Yugito, he grabbed her hand and led her at a fast clip to their training room in the back of the apartment. Naruto quickly got into his own fighting stance and Yugito reluctantly followed suit.

Feeling impatient and not wanted to wait to see the results of his training Naruto quickly launched himself at Yugito, his open palm going for a strike at her chest. Not anticipating Naruto to attack her so quickly, Yugito didn't react fast enough and that was all Naruto needed as he had poured a small amount of lightning chakra into his palm to coat it with it. A second before his palm made contact with Yugito's chest, Naruto shouted out loud, "Lightning Release: Paralysis Palm Jutsu".

Naruto's palm made contact with Yugito's chest and the electricity arced out and across it and Yugito gave a small oomph. As her muscles started to lock up, Yugito pitched forward and catching Naruto unbalanced, brought him down with her. "Yugito, are you okay?" Naruto quickly asked, voice shaking with the fear that he might have hurt her.

When she didn't reply automatically, Naruto began to mentally beat himself up for using a jutsu on her that he had thought wouldn't hurt her. Suddenly her palm came up and rested against his cheek and she took a moment to speak, but when she did her voice was steady and it held a note of pride. "Yeah, I'm fine; you just locked up all of my muscles with that little jutsu of yours."

Naruto couldn't believe his own ears, he had thought for sure that she was going to be mad at him, but her voice actually held what he thought was a tint of pride. Looking at her watching him, he felt warmth flare up in his stomach and he couldn't help but feel relief begin to override his anger at himself.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Time Skip Around 2 Years Later

Naruto was currently having an awesome dream that consisted of him becoming Raikage and then decreeing that Ramen was free when he was suddenly and violently jerked back into the land of wakefulness.

Sitting up from where he had fallen off of the bed, he threw a glare at the blonde who had pushed him off the bed to wake him up. "Get up, we got to hurry, or we're going to be late for our first day at the academy." Was all that Yugito said in reply to his glare before walking out to go make some breakfast.

Yawning loudly and stretching, Naruto stood up and went to his closet to pick what he would wear for the academy. Opening the door, he flicked through several dark shirts until he came across a long sleeved shirt that was black with a blood red stripe going down the sides of the shirt and another stripe going down the sleeves. Pulling on the shirt, he decided to wear a pair of black khakis. Topping it off, he grabbed a pair of black gloves with red metallic plates on the back of them.

Not even stopping to look at himself in his mirror, Naruto made his way into their kitchen to find that Yugito had fixed yet another bowl of mixed fruits. Naruto made a mental note to try and get up before his blonde friend so that he could fix breakfast for once.

If he ever got the chance to make breakfast, he would make some ramen with eggs and he knew he would love it. Saying a quick thanks to Yugito, Naruto sat down at the table and started to wolf down his fruit.

Yugito, having already eaten her fruit, decided to go and make sure that she had packed everything that Naruto and she would need for the academy. Going through their packs, Yugito mentally ticked off every item from the mental list that she had in her head and satisfied that they had everything they were going to need, she grabbed two scrolls and their packs and went back into the kitchen.

Once she got back in the kitchen she laid the scrolls out and placed the packs upon them. Naruto looked up from his food, finished his last bite, and then went to stand over by where Yugito had placed their packs and scrolls. Placing his hands in the ram seal, Naruto mumbled "Fuin." All of a sudden a puff of smoke appeared and when it had disappeared, their packs were nowhere to be seen.

Yugito smiled when she thought back to Killer Bee teaching them how to seal objects within scrolls. "Fuinjutsu" Yugito thought to herself as she remembered that day. It had been one of the only subjects that Naruto actually surpassed her in.

Killer Bee had mumbled under his breath something about him being an Uzumaki. She didn't understand why Naruto's heritage would matter when it came to utilizing Fuinjutsu, but she didn't care because of the happiness that the blonde had practically oozed that day. Naruto's happiness was always infectious and when he was really happy, there wasn't in her opinion a sight greater than Naruto's smile.

They made it to the Academy with a few minutes to spare before class started and they asked one of the teachers in the hall where they could find classroom D. After being directed to the classroom, the two blondes opened the door and walked inside and were met by a cacophony of sound. As the two blondes walked through the door, they looked around themselves and noticed three things.

First they noticed that there was this slightly cute (Yugito's thought) dark skinned boy sitting in one of the front pews, looking rather nervous. The second thing they noticed was a very beautiful (Naruto's thought) stuck up (Yugito's thought) looking blond sitting next to the dark skinned boy, who was looking at the person on the other side of the dark skinned boy.

Then they noticed the other person on other side of the dark skinned boy and she stared blankly at that person for several minutes before yelling out in an annoyed voice "Bee, what are you doing in our class?"

At first Naruto thought it was Bee, but something was wrong about him. Realizing almost immediately what it was, that it wasn't Bee's chakra signature that he could sense from the man, Naruto acted quickly, grabbing a few shuriken from his side pouch.

Charging them with a little lightning chakra he sent them flying at him. However, the man charged his fingers with what looked like black lightning and deftly caught the shuriken out of the air. Suddenly there was a puff of smoke and where the person who looked like Bee was, there was a slightly smaller dark skinned man with short shaggy white hair, a black short sleeved shirt, black khakis and the signature Kumo Jonin white vest. He also had a weird short, but broad sword that was sheathed at his back.

"Well, I am glad that out of the entire class, that at least one of you realized that I wasn't who I looked like. Class, my name is Darui, I will be your teacher while I heal from a nasty leg wound that I obtained on my last mission." Darui said as he walked to the desk at the front of the classroom, slightly favoring his right leg.

"So they are the reason that A gave me this assignment." Darui thought to himself as he watched Naruto lead a shocked Yugito to her chair and sit down next to her. Several things had surprised him about those two blondes. First, those two blondes obviously knew Killer Bee, so he knew that they must be the two jinchuriki that Bee had taken in.

Second, he had been surprised that his henge had failed against a mere child, even if that child was the jinchuriki to the greatest tailed beast. Next, he had noticed that the mere child had charged his shuriken with lightning chakra and that left him currently wondering just what those two blondes could do.

Deciding to keep an eye on the boy and girl, he turned to the rest of the class and began to explain how class would be. "So then, every day we will meet here and we will go over the scores from the previous day's assignments. I will give you pointers and help you in the areas that you need it. After we have done that, we will go out to the courtyard and we will have one on one taijutsu spars. Today I will spar with each of you to get a feeling for each of your capabilities so that I can assign an appropriate partner for you to train with." Darui said before continuing after a short pause.

"After the taijutsu spars, we will break for a thirty minute lunch and then we will come back inside for lessons on history and other topics. At the end of the day, each of you will take a quiz over the information you just learned and some of the information that you have already learned throughout the class. Then you will be dismissed to go home. Any questions, none, good. File outside and I'll call out each student individually and spar with them."

Darui walked to the door and led the students to the courtyard, where he called out the name of the first student. After sparring with a few people, Darui finally called out the name Samui. The beautiful and stuck up blond walked out and stood tall with one arm loose at her side and the other resting on her hip.

Dropping her hand that was at her hip, she quickly launched herself at Darui from his side and quickly threw a punch aimed at his kidney. Darui turned on his heel and caught her fist deftly, but had to release it as he ducked under her roundhouse kick.

The fight continued on for about twenty seconds until Darui called it, feeling like he had a grasp of her abilities. Bowing low to him, Samui made her way back into the throng of people to stand next to the dark skinned boy.

Darui called Yugito's name next and walking forward, she stood in her normal stance and after a few seconds, she launched herself at Darui. Swiping at him with her claw shaped fingers, she couldn't land a single blow and she was starting to get annoyed. She completely ignored the fact that this was a jonin that she was facing and that she would be lucky to hit him on his worst day.

She became so annoyed with herself. She had prided herself in her taijutsu ability for the last year, and it seemed that she had been sorely wrong when it came to her own measurements of her abilities. After a few more swings, her annoyance at herself turned to anger at herself.

Naruto and Darui both noticed what happened at the exact same time. As her anger spiked, Yugito's normally black eyes flashed blue as the power of the Nibi ran through her chakra network, and she suddenly swiped at him with all of the speed she could muster and everyone was amazed at what happened next. Naruto channeled lightning chakra to his feet and launched himself forward and caught Yugito's wrist when her claw shaped fingers were inches from making contact with Darui's neck.

About to yell at Naruto for butting into her fight, Naruto silenced her with a shake of his head and pointedly looked at her hand. Following his gaze, she saw what had made him act and suddenly she felt ashamed of herself. She had channeled lightning chakra into her fingers without realizing it and if Naruto hadn't stopped her, she might have actually hurt Darui. In no way could she have maimed him, but she might have hurt him all the same.

Looking back at Yugito, Naruto watched as her eyes returned to their normal black color and he smiled at her. He knew why she had done what she did and he didn't blame her for it. When you get angry, you tend to not think things through, and for a jinchuriki, the consequences of their actions could easily be doubled if not tripled.

Leading a shaking Yugito back into the crowd, Naruto noticed Killer Bee land in the courtyard and realizing that he must have been watching them, changed his direction and started walking over to Killer Bee.

When Naruto reached Killer Bee, Yugito noticed him for the first time and couldn't help but feel even more ashamed of herself. Killer Bee had witnessed her lose control and nearly do something that she would regret for a long time.

She was thinking that he was probably ashamed of her and as if he was reading her mind, he told her that he wasn't mad or ashamed of her, he was only glad that nothing had happened. Taking Yugito's small hand in his own, he looked over at Naruto and told him that he was going to take her home to relax. Nodding his head, Naruto watched as Bee put Yugito on his back and launched himself to the rooftops.

Darui, shaken, but obviously able to continue, called for an Omoi to step forward. Omoi came forward and asked if he could instead of using Taijustu, if he could use Kenjutsu. Raising his eyebrows in shock, Darui allowed him to and watched as the boy unsealed a katana from a scroll. His sealing capabilities escaped the notice of everyone except Darui, Naruto and Samui.

Unsheathing the katana, Omoi took a standard kenjutsu stance and stood stock still for nearly 20 minutes. Darui was so surprised at the boy's patience and he was currently wondering just how long it would last when Omoi gave an impatient shout as he launched himself at Darui. Swiftly unsheathing his own blade and unfolding it, which Naruto raised an amused eyebrow at, Darui blocked Omoi's opening slash and immediately parried another slash, only to block a low thrush with the flat side of his blade.

This went on for a few minutes with neither of them giving any ground. Omoi would deliver a slash and then a thrust, and Darui would either block or parry the blow and would send one of his own towards the boy. Finally, Omoi swung his katana in a low arc before reversing and thrusting at Darui, only to have it again blocked by the flat side of Darui's blade.

However, he had to quickly jump back as Omoi channeled lightning chakra into his blade and it pierced the side of his own. After Yugito's own performance with lightning chakra, Darui decided to call the spar before things got out of hand and Omoi bowed low after sheathing his katana and apologizing for damaging the jonin's blade.

Shaking his head and chuckling, he gave Omoi the first piece of advice he ever would. "Omoi, if another ninja doesn't guard against an attack correctly, don't apologize for attacking correctly."

After the boy walked back into the throng of people and stood by Samui, Darui called the last person to spar. "Naruto Uzumaki, if you would please step forward."

When Darui called him forward, he made his way to the portion of the courtyard that was being used as the sparring ground. Standing across from Darui, Naruto looked the jonin in the eye and assumed his own stance.

"So you want to see everything that I can do to land a hit, huh?" Naruto said with his head tilted to the side and a cocky grin plastered on his face. "Well, you better get ready then, because I am not going to hold anything back." Naruto said after a slight pause.

Naruto took a moment to think about what he was going to do and decided that he was going to use that jutsu. Thinking back about when he and Yugito had learned it, Naruto couldn't help but grin. Killer Bee had summoned a very large black panther. On the panther's back had been a very large scroll and once the panther had been summoned, he had walked up to Bee and allowed Bee to take the scroll from its back.

Bee had explained then that he held the panther contract and that he was going to pass it on to the both of them. He unfurled the scroll and had them both sign their name on the contract in their own blood and had furled it back up and placed it back on the panther's back.

Once the panther had dispelled itself, he showed them the hand seals and told them to mold chakra and attempt to summon a panther. They had both molded their chakra and flipped through the seals and slammed their hands on the ground, both of them shouting "Summoning Jutsu".

Only one cloud of smoke appeared and when it disappeared, a small panther cub was sitting next to Naruto having its belly rubbed. Yugito didn't use enough chakra to summon anything and Naruto had only used enough to summon a baby. Seeing the downtrodden look that Yugito had, Bee told her that it was normal for people to either summon nothing at all, or to summon the lowest possible summon on their first couple of tries.

After a couple more tries, Yugito had finally succeeded in summoning a cub as well and they had spent the rest of that evening playing with the small panthers. Bringing himself back to the present, Naruto shook his head and chuckled before biting his thumb and coating his palm in blood. Flipping through the seals, Naruto thought back to the amount of time it had taken to get to the point that he could summon Fury.

Slamming his palm on the ground and shouting out "Summoning Jutsu", a large cloud of white smoke surrounded the area. It took a while for the smoke to disperse, but once it had, in its place stood a young blonde boy whom was channeling lightning chakra to his feet and a medium sized panther that was doing the same thing.

"Summoning jutsu and lightning manipulation, what else am I going to see from this kid?" Darui thought to himself as he mentally shook himself from the shocked state he had been in at seeing the boy coat his palm in blood and start flipping through the seals.

The other students might not have known what he was doing, but he had seen that jutsu used enough that he knew what it was. "Well, I knew that the Raikage and Killer Bee were both training those two blondes, but still, I didn't expect this." Darui thought to himself as Naruto and the panther both launched themselves at him, Naruto attacking him from the front and the panther circling around to strike from the rear.

Their speed being enhanced because of the lightning chakra at their feet, the blonde and the panther closed the distance in the blink of an eye, and Darui was reading himself to block Naruto's attack and then flip himself around to block the panther's attack when he heard crunching from below. Looking down he saw a panther come up out of the ground at his feet and the panther behind him disappeared in a puff of smoke to be replaced by what seemed to be a clone of Naruto.

Jumping in the air to avoid the panther that was snapping at his feet, he twisted and blocked a punch to his kidney and twisted again to block a punch from the clone that was aimed at his chest. Only, the clone poofed into another cloud of smoke and the next thing he knew was that a set of very sharp teeth had grabbed ahold of his arm and wasn't going to let go.

However, the panther at his feet didn't transform into a clone and before he knew it, that one had bit down on his leg and the two panthers had him pinned in the air, not able to twist or block the incoming fist. However, the Naruto's fist never made contact with his face, as he disappeared in a in a sizzle of lighting which arced out and shocked Naruto and his summons.

Darui was standing on the roof of the building watching his lightning clone and the blonde fight and was impressed at the boy's fighting skill. He had one of the summons transform into himself to throw off their enemy when the other panther came out of the ground. He and his clone had been fooled by that one and he was glad that when Naruto had summoned them that he had taken that chance to create a clone and slip away in that cloud of smoke.

Jumping down from the roof and watching as the summons dispelled themselves, Darui called the match and told them all to take a 30 minute lunch, as he walked over to the blond whom was nursing the red burn marks on his body where the electricity had burned him.

"First off, that was a good fight Naruto. You have great potential and I expect a lot from you and Yugito. Second off, thank you for jumping in and stopping Yugito, for even though I am a jonin, even the most experienced ninja can die from bad timing." Darui said as he pulled the blond boy up and off the ground.

"She was just angry for some reason and didn't realize that she was channeling chakra." Naruto said with an uncomfortable feeling. He knew that Darui had to have seen and recognized the Nibi's chakra and Naruto was entirely sure that Yugito's channeling of chakra wasn't the Nibi's doing in the first place. He didn't want Darui to treat him and Yugito differently just because of their tenants.

Sensing the boy's thoughts, he decided he needed to make the boy realize that he had nothing against Yugtio and himself. "I know that Yugito utilized that Nibi's chakra and that she could have killed me, but I am not a ninja to hold a grudge for something that was an accident. You don't have to worry about me treating you and her any differently than the other students because of the tailed beasts; I give you my word as a Kumo shinobi." Darui said with a note of pride in his voice since that was the highest thing that he could place a pledge upon.

Recognizing that Darui was being honest and taking Darui's pledge to heart, he smiled up at the jonin and was about to walk away when he thought about something. "Darui, what was that jutsu you had used to get away from me and my summons and harm us as well?" Naruto asked.

"Oh that, that was just the Lightning Clone jutsu. Normally academy students won't learn jutsu that high, but if you ask Killer Bee, I'm sure he'll teach it to you." Darui said as he walked away to go eat some lunch.

The rest of the day was pretty much boring. Darui had talked to them about some of the earliest history of Kumo and its founding. Naruto was bored out of his mind; he spent half of his time admiring Samui's looks and the other half listening to Darui's lesson.

The only reason he listened at all was because he was fairly certain that A would quiz them on some of the stuff during the spars. The Raikage understood the fact that you learned from other's mistakes and he had drilled that idea into the two blonds continuously, having them watch the other's spar and learn from their mistakes as well as their own.

As class ended, Naruto took a moment to seal all of his and Yugito's stuff into their respective scrolls and was about to leave when he heard someone say his name. Looking up from his work, he noticed that everyone else had already left except for himself, Samui, and Omoi. Omoi was looking at him nervously and Samui was looking at him with a gleam in her eye that was akin to curiosity.

Having been deep in thought about how he would get Bee to teach him how to the Lightning Clone jutsu, he hadn't noticed everybody else leave and he didn't know if they had asked him something, so deciding to be on the safe side he asked them if they needed anything. With the air of someone who didn't like having to repeat herself, Samui asked him her question again.

"I said, where did you and that blonde that you were with, learn to utilize lightning chakra?" Samui said in an angry tone and Omoi looked apologetically at Naruto for his companion's tone.

Normally being the hotheaded one and having Yugito there to keep him in check, Naruto had to rein in his anger before he did something he might just regret later on. He had a creeping feeling that the girl might not only be a great Taijutsu user, since she was hanging with this kid who was really good with a katana and that begged the question of what else she could do. He also knew that the dark skinned boy could channel lightning chakra and since she asked the question, she at least knew what it was when she saw it.

"Yugito and I were taken in by Bee when we were young and he has taught us a great deal." Naruto said with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders, not wanting to reveal that they had also been trained by the Raikage. He also didn't know how two kids would react to finding out that they were jinchuriki, so he kept his mouth shut on that issue as well.

Recognizing that he had just referred to the man that had taken Yugito away earlier and knowing of only one man in Kumo with the name of Bee, they widened their eyes when they began to wonder just how good those two blonds were. They had definitely put up a great show during their respective spars and that didn't include ninjutsu, if you didn't count the fact that Naruto had summoned panthers.

Deciding that he wanted to get home, Naruto chose to leave and threw a farewell and a wave over his shoulder as he walked away. Hurrying home, Naruto jumped from roof top to roof top and decided that he wanted to go a little faster. Channeling lightning chakra to his feet, Naruto's speed nearly doubled and he was at the apartment within minutes.

Opening the door and announcing his presence, he was surprised when Yugito didn't come barreling down the hallway to hug him. Bee came out of the living room and from the look on his face he knew that something was wrong. Pulling him in the living room, he told him how when they had gotten home that he had tried to talk to her and lighten her mood, but nothing seemed to pull her out of brooding mood.

Deciding that he would try and give it a try, Naruto walked to her room and knocked on the door and waited for a reply. When none was forthcoming, Naruto knocked again and after a few minutes just opened up the door, bracing himself for the shout that he was sure to come. He was met with silence. Yugito was sitting on her bed with her arms around her knees and she was staring off into the distance.

Walking over to her and sitting down next to her, Naruto put an arm around her shoulder and she leaned her head on his shoulder. Deciding to just sit there in silence with her for a few minutes, Naruto thought back on his spar with Darui.

All of a sudden, Naruto looked over at her and smiled one of his sincere and heartwarming smiles. And just like that, she started to forget about her previous feelings and she suddenly started rising from the dark brooding mood that she had been in. There weren't many people that Naruto couldn't cheer up with his smile. Realizing that he had succeeded in cheering her up, Naruto grabbed her hand and led her into the kitchen to make her some dinner.

Bee was standing in the living room watching them begin squabbling over what they were going to eat and couldn't help but smile at the sight. He had known that Naruto would succeed in cheering her up, he had just known.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Everybody was seated in their chosen pews when Darui walked into the classroom the next morning. In the front pew sat Samui, Omoi, and a red headed girl. In the middle pew sat Yugito and Naruto and in the back pew sat a few more kids.

Not recognizing the red headed girl from yesterday, Darui realized that she must have been the girl that had been missing from yesterday's class. Closing the door behind him, all of the kids became silent at once and he walked to the desk in the front.

"Okay, here I have in my hand the groupings for your morning taijutsu spars. Because there are an odd number of students in this class, and I would like to spar in the mornings as well, Naruto, you will be sparring with me. Yugito, you and Omoi will spar together. Samui, you will spar with Karui. Any questions; no, okay follow me." Darui said as he walked back to the door and opened it.

Walking to the courtyard, Darui told the students to pair up with their respective partners and find a spot to spar. Darui waited to make sure that all of the students had found a spot and had started before turning to Naruto.

"I'll be honest Naruto, it is more of the fact that I enjoyed our spar immensely yesterday that I have chosen to spar with you in the mornings. If you don't mind though, today I would appreciate it if you would use a blade, so that I can get a feel for your Kenjutsu skills." Darui said knowing full well how the child was with a blade. He had talked to Killer Bee earlier this morning and Killer Bee had asked if he could try and help the boy with his training.

Deciding that he could at least try and improve the boy's skill, he pulled his own blade out of its sheath and unfolded it as Naruto unsealed his katana. Holding the katana in a grasp that was similar to how Omoi had held his yesterday, Naruto didn't wait as long as Omoi before lunging at Darui.

Yugito's and Omoi's Spar

Yugito was still really bummed that she had lost control of her emotions in yesterday's spar and she had promised herself earlier this morning that she wouldn't ever allow that to happen again. Having not seen Omoi's spar yesterday, she had no idea what skills the boy had, but she realized that he must have been good for Darui to team him with her.

"Yugito, I don't know if you are any good with a blade, but if you are and you would like to, I would like to change this to a Kenjutsu spar." Darui asked with a hint of nervousness in his voice. He was thinking about what might happen to him if she chose to have a taijutsu spar instead.

He knew that he wasn't bad at taijutsu, but he also knew that he wasn't that good either. He was thinking about all of the possible outcomes of a taijutsu spar between the two when Yugito's voice brought him out of his nervous thoughts.

"Sure, why not." Yugito said with a cocky smile on her face. It wasn't often that she sparred with someone using Kenjutsu, if you didn't count Naruto and Bee.

Both of them unsealed their respective katana and held them in a slightly mirrored pose. Possessing the patience that Naruto didn't, Yugito still wasn't able to win that particular battle with Omoi. She found herself launching at him with an overhead slash.

Parrying and allowing himself to be on the defensive for a moment, Omoi studied Yugito's form and skill and realized that she was actually pretty good. She wasn't as good as Karui was, but she was either just as good as himself, if not better.

Blocking several slashes and stabs, Omoi decided to take things on the offensive and started to send his own slashes and stabs her way. Five minutes later the two were still parrying each other's strikes and still weren't any closer to landing a blow then when they began. However, while Omoi seemed to be slowing down with every minute that the spar went on, Yugito didn't seem to tire and it was making Omoi wonder just how long he could keep this stalemate going.

Two minutes later and many a sounds of clashing steel found Yugito's blade resting on Omoi's collarbone. Lifting her blade away and sheathing it, Yugito bowed low to Omoi, acknowledging the boy's impressive skills. Being trained in kenjutsu by Bee and having the impressive chakra reservoirs that she had because of the Nibi, she knew a kenjutsu genius when she saw one.

Bowing back and thanking her for her spar, Omoi walked over to his pack and took out a scroll and unsealed a bottle of water. Seeing Yugito do the same, Omoi walked over to where she was sitting and sat down next to her, both of them content with watching the rest of the spars in silence.

Samui's and Karui's Spar

"Karui, what were you doing yesterday?" Samui said with a hint of curiosity in her voice.

"Oh, you know Samui, a little of this, a little of that." Karui said with a playful and devious grin on her face.

"So, you mean you were skipping to sleep in." Samui replied while smiling at her friend. She had known Karui for her entire life and so when Karui wasn't in class yesterday she knew exactly what the red headed girl was doing. "Anyways, let's get this spar over with, shall we." Samui said after a slight pause.

Immediately rushing the blonde girl, Karui threw a punch aimed at the girl's torso on to have it deflected with a downward swipe of Samui's forearm. Ducking under the roundhouse kick that Samui had aimed at her head, Karui swept her legs down low, attempting to make Samui lose her balance. Samui jumped up and back to avoid the low sweep and had to jump back again when Karui sent a roundhouse kick aimed at her knees.

Samui blocked three more punches in successive order and then jumped over another roundhouse kick that was aimed at her shins this time. Vaulting over the redheaded girl, Samui landed behind her and performed a flawless roundhouse herself, catching Karui in the abdomen and sending her sprawling on the ground.

Bowing low to each other, they knew it was over, since when they sparred together they always sparred until someone landed a solid hit. Grabbing their water bottles from their respective bags, the two girls went to sit next to their other childhood friend, Omoi. Karui sat down next to Omoi and Samui sat next to Yugito.

After a few minutes of silence, Samui had to ask the question that was bugging her since they learned that they would only spar with one person. "Hey you guys, do any of you want to spar with other people after classes instead of just sparring with the same person all the time." Samui asked with a note of hope in her voice. She wanted to be the best ninja that she could be, and she knew that sparring with different people would help her out on her path.

Seeing all of them think it over, more so in Omoi's case than the others, she was glad when they all accepted, even the blonde girl that seemed to be getting along with Omoi very well. Having that out of the way, they all sat back against the tree they were sitting under and watched the others continue to spar. After about fifteen minutes, there were only two people sparring still and it was Naruto and Darui.

After about thirty minutes in, Darui had told Naruto that he could stop using the katana if he wanted to, and Naruto hurriedly sealed it away, so happy to be allowed to revert to normal taijutsu. In exchange for not using his lightning clone this time, he had asked that Naruto not use his panthers.

Yugito had been so shocked to find out that Naruto had summoned his panthers to help him yesterday. She hadn't asked how his spar had went, having been in such a funk yesterday and afterwards Naruto had done everything he could to keep her out of it.

They had both started out using just regular taijutsu without elemental manipulation, but after about ten minutes, they both started channeling lightning chakra to their hands and feet. Naruto was using more palm strikes and Darui was using more punches than anything. When they were on the defensive, they would channel their lightning chakra to their feet to increase the speed of the jumps and acrobatic maneuvers, always trying to stay one step ahead of the other one.

The sounds that were made when their blows connected were unbelievably loud and the spar went on for another ten minutes before Darui called it. Naruto was leaning over, heaving for breath while Darui looked slightly winded.

Everyone knew that Darui was slightly injured, and that he was going easy on Naruto, but he had to put some work in. After all, Naruto was good enough that he had to put some work into it. Seeing that everyone else had finished their spars and had been watching theirs, Darui told them all to take an early lunch and to come into the class room in thirty minutes.

"Naruto, your taijutsu is exceptional. I believe that you don't need any help in that regard, but I am willing to help you with your kenjutsu if you want." Darui said as he and Naruto continued to catch their breath. He honestly was so surprised that Naruto was as good as he was in taijutsu and he was glad that he had someone to spar with if he couldn't go on missions.

Always wanting to improve himself where he needed it and knowing from firsthand experience that Darui was exceptional with his blade, he agreed, deciding that even with Bee teaching him, you could never get enough help.

Time Skip Around A Year Later

The sound of metal on metal could be heard across the entire courtyard. The two combatants that were fighting were giving it their all and they were attracting quite a crowd of students. Darui was currently channeling lightning chakra into his blade and he twirled it around his head before bringing it down in a downward slash.

The boy he was currently fighting had at one point in time been very terrible when it came to fighting with the blade. It had just taken them finding the right type of blade and they finally saw his abilities skyrocket.

Naruto intercepted the blade's downward arc and then he swung his fist and slashed at Darui with his other blade. It didn't take a lot for someone to notice what was different between Naruto's blades and regular blades.

Darui blocked Naruto's lightning enhanced slash as he began to think back on that day that he'd had the idea that led to what was before him right now. He had realized that Naruto was terrible when it came to Kenjutsu and it didn't seem to matter how much he trained or who trained him. He just couldn't get it for some reason.

That being said, Darui began to think about just how good the blond boy was when it came to Taijutsu and he honestly couldn't think of anything that he could do to make the boy proficient with a blade. It was then that Naruto had back wielded a kunai for the first time.

It gave Darui his idea and when he thought about it, it made perfect sense. Naruto wasn't bad with a blade, he merely couldn't get the moves down that were required for Kenjutsu. Without those moves, he couldn't ever become proficient with a blade.

However, there was one blade that didn't require the normal moves of Kenjutsu. In fact, it required moves that were a lot more like Taijutsu. The next day he had gone down to the local weapon shop and had two particular blades commissioned.

It took the weapons master two full months to gather the supplies needed and then to craft the blades since he had never made one before. However, once they were finished, Darui had to admit that it was well worth the wait. They were a piece of art.

Since Naruto's 8th birthday had been so close, Darui had decided to present them to the boy for his birthday. He knew that student's teachers weren't supposed to do things like this; that it was favoritism, but he honestly didn't care. The boy would have so much potential if his idea actually worked. Also, ever since they had begun sparring in the mornings, he had taken a liking to the boy.

He never gave up when he was trying to teach him Kenjutsu and he actually made him work out in the mornings with their Taijutsu spars. Darui would be the first to admit that he wasn't perfect in everything.

Sure, he was excellent in Ninjutsu and Kenjutsu, but his Taijutsu wasn't par with those two abilities. Since they were always having a Taijutsu spar, and the boy was a natural Taijutsu genius, their fights weren't one sided.

Since they had begun having said spars, he had been continually giving Naruto advice on how to improve his fighting. With his advice taken to the heart, the boy had progressed to the point that they were almost evenly matched in Taijutsu.

The boy had an awesome style. His fighting style was a combination of grabs and throws and because of that, he was proficient against just about every style so long as he could see the attack coming. He went for more stunning moves than debilitating and his summons helped him greatly in that regard.

His panthers would hold someone down and he would paralyze them with a well-placed Lightning Palm. He still remembered the first time the boy had hit him with that particular jutsu. His muscles had been paralyzed for nearly three minutes and he knew that in a real fight, that he would have been either taken prisoner or killed. He never allowed himself to get hit by that jutsu a second time.

When he finally presented the blades to Naruto, the boy had nearly come to tears, but was able to stop himself from crying. Other than Bee, A, and Yugito, nobody had ever given him a birthday present. He did break down into tears later that day when Samui, Omoi, and Karui showed up and gave him their gifts.

The blades were chakra blades. The handle of the blades were a series of holes where the wielder would place his fingers. Above these holes were triangular shaped blades that were positioned so as they were above each knuckle. The blade went backwards in a slight curve for about another six inches.

Telling Naruto his idea, the boy's eyes had lit up and he had asked when Darui was going to spar with him so they could see how they worked out. He had told him that during the next day's spar, if he wanted to, he could use the blades.

He had went on to explain how the blades were made out of special metal and because of that, the wielder could channel his chakra through the blades and the chakra would extend beyond the regular dimensions of the blade. He then went on to explain that since the blades weren't long that they could be utilized using Taijutsu styles when fighting in a Kenjutsu fight.

Bee's eyes had widened at that, wondering why he hadn't thought about it. It made so much sense, seeing as even he could see that the blond boy was an excellent Taijutsu user. Glad that Darui had finally thought of something that might give Naruto a chance in Kenjutsu duels, Bee had been so happy that day that he had forgotten to tell Naruto what his gift was. It was going to be an exclusive lesson in Enka.

Naruto's other blade coming in on an overhead and downward chop brought Darui out of his personal thoughts. The fighting style that was required to use the chakra blades was basically Taijutsu with a few tweaks to take into account the blades that were extending past his fist.

Punches and chops were the main moves utilized in this fighting style since they allowed the user to strike with the blade. Also, a barely avoided punch could still injure an opponent since the chakra that was emanating from the end of the blade was tangible and sharp enough to cut.

Quickly, Darui slashed at Naruto who blocked the blade with his own and then retaliated with two swift punches that Darui blocked. They were both becoming winded and they had been sparring for nearly two hours now. Calling the match before Naruto could launch another offensive strike, Darui told the gathered students to break for lunch.

Darui walked away and into the building to eat while the students gathered into groups to eat their own. Naruto walked over to where his four friends were sitting and eating their own food. After they had begun sparring together after classes, the five of them had become nearly inseparable and Naruto was so glad to have more friends. Naruto enjoyed sparring with Karui the most.

Other than Yugito, she was the one that was presenting the most challenge in a straight up Taijutsu spar. It was the fact even though Samui had the skill, she didn't have the stamina required to keep a match going for very long and it was the length of the matches that Naruto enjoyed the most; and Karui had the stamina to give him those lengthy matches.

Sitting down, Naruto accepted the food that Yugito gave him and ate it gratefully, exhausted from his spar. The spars between himself and Darui always lasted almost the entire Taijutsu sparring time allotted as they both had the energy to keep going and since Naruto wasn't one to give up. They all finished their food and went back into the classroom with the rest of the class.

Since they were in their second year of the academy, they were being taught more survival and combat theories than history and academic subjects. They were still being taught those things though and Naruto hated those parts of the day the most. Karui, Samui and Yugito took to the combat exercises like the proverbial duck to water, where Omoi, Samui, and Yugito were the ones that were good at the survival exercises.

Naruto had a feeling that it was Omoi's nervousness that led him to be so good at survival, since he was continually thinking about everything that could go wrong and how to fix it. He knew that Yugito and Samui had the brains of the group and he also knew that when it came to combat strategies, there weren't many that could best Karui.

Naruto was pretty good at both of them, but it only showed on the practical exercises, not on the normal written ones and since the written exercises were the ones that gave you your grade, you wouldn't know that Naruto was any good at anything other than Taijutsu. He just didn't care, it was that boring.

Stifling a yawn, Naruto had never been so happy in his life to have the class dismissed and was out of the classroom so quickly that he left everyone in his dust. Deciding to go to the training ground ahead of his friends instead of waiting and walking there with them, Naruto quickly took to the roof of a nearby building and jumped to another one.

Continuing like this for several minutes, Naruto stopped when he came across a fairly old man with a mane of wild and unruly white hair. The man was staring into the window of a bathhouse and was giggling like a pervert.

Naruto didn't like perverts, but he was still glad that his three female friends weren't with him right now. Old man or not, they would have torn into him so badly that he would have been on his knees within moments begging for mercy.

Walking up behind the old man as quietly as he could and charging lightning chakra to his palm, Naruto threw a palm strike at the man's back. Paralyzing the man's muscles, Naruto grabbed him by his shirt and ignoring the old man's protests, drug him into a nearby alley. Leaning the old man up against the wall, he took a good look at the man and decided that the old man was a weird one.

He was wearing all red and white and had a scroll on his back. He also had a horned hitai on his forehead that bore the symbol for oil. Memorizing the man's face, he didn't realize that the man had gone slack jawed and had widened his eyes when he saw who had incapacitated him. "I don't care how old you are, or who you are, if I ever catch you peeking at women in Kumo ever again, you are going to seriously regret it. Got it?" Naruto said with a glare at the old man.

Quickly nodding his head in acceptance at the blond boy's statement, Jiraiya wanted nothing more than for the boy to hurry and leave him alone in this alley and he soon got his wish. As the boy left the alley, the great and mighty Jiraiya broke down into sobs.

The boy had reminded him of the promise to the Yondaime that he hadn't been able to keep. That wasn't what made him break down though. What had made him break was when he looked up into Naruto's face, all he could see were Minato and Kushina looking down at him in shame.

Time Skip Around An Hour Later

A was looking at an older man that looked as if he had had better days. His clothes were rather dirtied and he looked as if he had seen a ghost. "Jiraiya, did something happen that I might need to know about?" A said as he watched the man huff out an impatient sigh.

"No, I lost my balance and I tripped." Jiraiya said with a note of bitter sadness in his voice, remembering the two faces that he had seen in the boy's face. Straightening his face and composing it back into his mask of indifference, Jiraiya took a scroll from out of his pack.

Biting his thumb, he swiped his blood down the scroll and flipped through a few hand seals before slamming his palm on the paper. A puff of smoke appeared and when it disappeared it left a large pile of scrolls sitting atop the scroll that Jiraiya had just used.

"Later than expected, but as promised, the Namikaze and Uzumaki clan scrolls. I trust that you will give them to Naruto and Naruto alone." Jiraiya said with a hint of a glare in his eyes. He was mindful of the fact that these were the secrets of the families of his former student and his former student's wife. Naruto was the last of both clans, and as a result, he was the only one that had any right to read the contents of these scrolls.

"Yes, as I promised, I will give these scrolls to Naruto and he will be the only one other than Killer Bee and Yugito that know of their existence." A said with a hint of anger in his voice, not liking for a minute what the tone that Jiraiya had used implied.

"Good, in that case, I guess I will be taking my leave. Do keep an eye on my god son while I'm away would you." Jiraiya said as he walked out the door, ready to get on the road and forgot the experience that he had had today.

Training ground 14

Yugito and Samui were currently having a Taijutsu spar and Omoi was sparring with Karui. Naruto was sitting under a tree twirling one of his chakra blades around his finger while watching his friends spar. He already knew how one of the matches was going to end. It was almost always the same ending for those two's spars.

Samui would last for a while against Yugito and her strikes and blocks were always true, but she just didn't have the stamina to keep going as long as Yugito could. They would normally spar for around twenty minutes before Samui started to show the first signs of fatigue.

She wouldn't give up though. She would normally push on for another thirty minutes before she would end up being slowed down by fatigue to the point that her block was true anymore and Yugito would win the spar.

Omoi's and Karui's spar was always another story. Both of them were pretty equal when it came to skill. Karui had more stamina than Omoi, but since Omoi was trained in Kenjutsu so much, he had learned to utilize the least amount of energy for his moves and as a result he was able to last the same amount of time that Karui could. Their spars always came down to whoever made the first mistake.

This time it would seem that Karui was going to win the match as Omoi reacted to her punch a little too slowly and the next instant Omoi was crashing down to the ground. "Wow Karui, did you have to hit so hard?" Naruto asked from the sidelines with a playful glint in his eye. He loved pushing her buttons and her feelings for Omoi were always one of them.

She never wanted to go easy on him, but she was always reining herself in so that she didn't hurt him. He was the only one that she reined her strength in for. She could throw a nasty punch and when blocked, they normally left some painful bruises. Rushing over to Omoi's side, fearful that she had hurt him; she stood up and gave Naruto an angry glare when he suddenly burst out laughing at her reaction to his statement.

"Too easy Karui, you make needling you way too easy." Naruto said while still chuckling.

"Oh yah, well I'll show you what happens to those dumb enough to needle me!" Karui shouted as she ran at the blond boy.

Naruto jumped up, smiling even wider, because he had been needling her to get her to spar with him. She didn't normally like to spar twice in the evening and he was bored. Karui threw a punch that Naruto blocked with a downward chop of his right hand and quickly retaliated with several fast palm thrusts that Karui barely managed to dodge.

Flipping herself over Naruto's head, she ducked a roundhouse kick that Naruto had aimed at her head, and placed her palms on the ground. Bracing herself with her hands, she lifter her feet into the air and threw two quick kicks at Naruto's abdomen. Twisting to his left and dropping, Naruto swung his legs at Karui's hands, intent on dumping her on her stomach and then grappling her.

However, he had used that move once and Karui learned from her lessons. Karui pushed herself up with all of her strength and lifted herself a foot into the air and off of the ground, avoiding the leg sweep that Naruto had used. Twisting sharply, Karui brought her left heel down on a downward arc and felt Naruto's forearm give slightly as he blocked her kick.

Biting back a curse, that kick had had all of her strength behind it and it had either fractured or completely broken his forearm. Not one to give up, Naruto flipped himself over with his good arm and quickly jumped to his feet, only to be met with a barrage of punches and kicks. Naruto twisted and turned and blocked with his good arm, trying valiantly to avoid all of her blows.

He was doing a good job until an unseen blow connected with his injured arm and he cried out in pain. Blinded by pain, Naruto didn't see the uppercut that Karui had aimed at his chin and he was thrown a full three feet into the air when Karui's fist impacted with his chin. Falling back down, Naruto hit the ground with a loud oomph. Still, he tried to stand up and Karui, realizing that his arm was badly injured called the spar.

"Come on you idiot, we need to take you to the hospital and have that arm looked, we can continue this spar once we know how badly I hurt your arm." Karui said, her worried tone telling Naruto that she didn't mean to insult him; it was just her way of talking.

Omoi, Yugito and Samui, who had all stopped and watched with wide eyes at the spar, hurriedly came over and helped Naruto stand up. They all set off for the hospital. It took them a good thirty minutes to get there and when they did, they had to sit in the waiting room for another 30 minutes. When they were finally called him back, they wouldn't allow any of the other kids back with them, and they were about to make them let them back when Darui walked out of one of the rooms.

Darui had been in for one of his weekly checkups with his doctor and they told him that his abdomen was healing nicely from the stab wound that he had taken. Everything was in order and the only thing that was still in the way of him being fully healed was time. His wound had to heal by normal means and because of that, it was taking a long time.

He was on his way out of the examination area when he saw a crowd of kids about to blow a gasket because they weren't being allowed back with one of their number. Recognizing the kids immediately, Darui made a beeline for the nurse and the kids.

"Now kids, I am pretty sure that second year academy student's like yourself understand that rules must always be followed, regardless of the circumstances. Am I right?" Darui said with after a cough to get their attention.

Realizing who had spoken to them, all five of them bowed low, Naruto experiencing some problems since his arm was hurting him so much. All of them, except Naruto who didn't have it in him to argue with the nurse, mumbled under their breaths that they understood.

Deciding that it would put their thoughts to rest, he sighed as he knew that he was going to be here for a little while longer. "I'll go back with Naruto and stay with him while they give him an examination. You four go on home and make sure you get some rest and be ready for class in the morning." Darui said with a small smile at how the children cheered up when he said that he would stay with Naruto.

The nurse gave him a grateful smile as she led Naruto and him to an examination room and then told them that a medical ninja would be in to see them in a moment. Closing the door behind her, Darui looked at the blond in front of him.

He had seen a lot of people break their arm in his past and he knew from personal experience the pain that came with such a break. Seeing how the boy wasn't showing the pain that he was obviously feeling and was able to keep himself out of shock, his respect for the kid went up another notch.

The doctor came in after about twenty minutes and he pulsed chakra into Naruto's arm. With his diagnosis out of the way, the doctor proceeded to bring the bone back into proper alignment with chakra and then wrapped the boy's forearm in a cast.

Telling him not to get it wet, and all the other requirements that came with having a cast put on, he dismissed Naruto telling him to come back in and see him again in three months. Little did he know that Naruto's injury would be healed within the week, because later in that week, Naruto was going to meet the Kyubi face to face for the first time.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Naruto was sitting at his table when it first started. His arm started itching like a fiend. It was killing him. All he wanted to do was scratch it. However, there was an inch thick piece of hardened cloth stopping his fingernails from scraping across his skin. He'd had the cast on his arm for nearly 3 days now, and he was sick and tired of the blasted thing.

It was the weekend and Yugito was out being trained by Killer Bee. Since his arm was injured, he couldn't participate in the Kenjutsu spar and as a result, was trying to work on his chakra control. Chakra control was hard enough when you had a silent and clear mind to concentrate, so it was natural for it to be nearly impossible when his need to itch made it impossible to quiet and clear his mind enough to concentrate.

Deciding that he had tried to concentrate for long enough, Naruto stood up, stretched out and yawned loudly. Putting on his sandals at the door, Naruto stepped out and squinted up at the very bright sun. Knowing that he wasn't supposed to be out and training, Naruto set off for a distant, quiet, and normally vacant training ground.

It took him nearly 20 minutes of chakra enhanced jumps from rooftop to rooftop before he finally came to the path that led to the training ground he was heading for. Dashing off along the path, Naruto didn't sense the eyes that were watching him. Nor did he see the two cloaked figures jump from a rooftop and silently follow him along the path.

Naruto finally made it to the training ground, and after making sure that it was deserted, proceeded to kick and punch one of the training dummies that were set up. He kept this up for nearly two full hours before he finally decided to call it a day. Exhaused, Naruto turned around to start back up the path so that he could get back soon enough to make Yugito some dinner, only for a chakra cloaked hand to chop him on the back of the neck.

Exhaused from training, Naruto didn't have the energy to avoid the blow and the last thing he saw before he passed out was two ninja. It wasn't the ninja that made him scared though, it was the hitai-ate that they were wearing. He had seen these hitai on so many ninja that he would always remember this symbol. Somehow, ninja of the leaf had found him.

Killer Bee's Apartment

Yugito was running down the hall yelling her blond best friend. He had promised that he would have something fixed for dinner when she got back and there wasn't anything in the kitchen. She was intent on giving the blond boy a chewing of the likes that he had never received on why you kept the promises that you gave. When he never came out of his room or replied to her calls, Yugito became even angrier.

Charging to his room, she threw the door open, now intent on giving him the beating of his lifetime for not answering her. The boy needed to learn that when a girl called, you answered. When she realized that he wasn't in his room, she was growing red in the face, she was that livid. He had the gull to leave the house and go somewhere when he was supposed to be resting and healing.

Charging back out of the room, she stomped down the hall and went to the living room to find Bee. He needed to know that Naruto had left when he had told him not to. They were both going to give him hell for leaving when he should have been resting. Going into the living room, she was surprised when she didn't see Bee. She had been certain that he had gone in there when they had returned.

She left the living room and entered the kitchen, thinking that he might have gone to get something to eat or drink. Not seeing him in there, she went down the hall to his room and tapped on his door. Receiving no reply, she went to the front door and opened and went outside. She had decided that she would go and find the young blond herself.

However, she saw Bee over on another rooftop. He was looking down on something that was bundled over there and she couldn't see what it was from this distance. Deciding to see what it was, she jumped across to the other side and had to clamp her hand over her hand as she smelled a scent that she hadn't smelled in nearly 7 years. Death.

There were two mangled bodies on the ground in front of her. The ninja, because they were definitely ninja from the weapons they carried, wore the masks of ANBU. In the hand of one of the ANBU was a bloodied hitai. The hitai bore the symbol for Iwagakure. Killer Bee noticed that she was standing next to him and he grabbed her by the shoulder.

Turning her away from the gruesome scene, they both jumped back across to their apartment roof. He led her into the apartment and told her to wait while he gathered some things. He left and disappeared and returned after about a minute. Setting his pack upon his back, he grabbed Yugito by the hand and they jumped from roof to roof, heading in the direction of the Raikage's tower.

They were both silent on the trip there, but once they arrived Yugito could no longer stop herself from asking the question that had been bugging her since seeing the dead ANBU. "Bee, were those the ANBU that were assigned to guarding Naruto and me when we were separated from you?" Yugito said with a worried tone.

Looking at the young blonde standing next to him, Bee knelt down next to the girl and nodded his head before hugging the young blonde to his chest as she began to shake and cry with worry. She was smart enough to know that if the two ANBU that were guarding Naruto had been killed, then that means someone had taken her best friend. Judging from the bloodied hitai that was in the ANBU's hand, they could probably guess who it was.

Speaking in a soft voice, Killer Bee lifted her into the air and continued to hold her to his chest as he made his way into the building. Completely ignoring Mabui, Killer Bee strode up to his brother's door and pushed it open. Walking up to his brother who was sitting lifting weights at his desk, he began to explain the situation the moment he entered the room.

A hearing what he heard ordered several ANBU and told them to spread out and guard the entrances and exits to the village. He then ordered a tracking ANBU squad to be assembled and ready to set off within the hour. Grabbing his own things, he ordered another five ANBU to guard Yugito as he and Bee were going to be joining the tracker team. Fearing an argument from Yugito when she heard that she wouldn't be going along, Bee knelt back down to her and began to tell her why she couldn't go, hoping that she would see the sense in his statement.

Bee attempted to make her realize that they were probably going to get into a fight out there and that she wasn't ready for something like that. However, she wasn't listening to a word he said. Instead of arguing, she had decided to keep her thoughts to herself as she plotted a way to get away from her ANBU guard.

The five ANBU showed up and they set off with her in the middle of the group. Realizing that she was going to have to use pure speed to get away from them, Yugito allowed them to lead the way, intent on saving her energy for what was to come. She knew the signal that the tracking team would give so that the Raikage and Bee would know where they were when they found the trail.

Tracking Team

The tracking team were currently following behind the sensory type's panther summon that was following Naruto's scent from his house. The sensory ninja had short blond hair and he wore a black khakis. He wore a black sleeveless shirt with a white jonin's vest over it.

"Hey C, how old does your summon say the trail is?" Darui, one of the other ninja gathered to form the tracking team, asked his companion.

"Five hours." C replied with a grim voice. That was a long head start that the enemy had on them.

Hearing C's reply, Darui felt a hint of anger. Quelling the emotion, Darui shook his head to rid himself of the emotion knowing that he needed to have a clear head on his shoulders. He was angry that someone had kidnapped his student and he knew that anger would only make it harder to get Naruto back. The two ninja followed the panther as it led them to an obscure training ground.

Having seen the blond boy training at this training ground before, Darui knew at least that Naruto had come here on his own since there had been no scene of a struggle in the house or anywhere around it. Seeing the training dummy, the two ninja figured out what had happened. The two assailants had waited for the boy to exhaust himself and had then taken him when he was weakened.

The panther set out again and in twenty minutes they found themselves at one of the walls of the village. The two ninja stopped and Darui looked away from C, knowing full well what the sensory ninja was about to do.

C put his hands in the ram seal and channel lightning chakra around his entire body. His chakra flared up and around his body and shone into the dark sky. They waited for the Raikage and Killer Bee to show up and within ten minutes all four ninja set off into the mountains that surrounded the village.

Yugito

Yugito saw the sky light up in the direction of one of the training grounds that she and Naruto used a few times. Knowing that that was the signal that would lead the Raikage and Bee to the tracking team, Yugito channeled lightning chakra to her feet and took the only chance that she was going to be given.

The five ANBU were constantly flicking their eyes back and forth while they traveled with their charge to Killer Bee's house. The ANBU were only worried about the surrounding area and as a result they were slow to respond when Yugito slipped between their ranks and took off in the direction of where there had been a momentary bright light.

Once she was running towards the spot where she had seen the signal, Yugito had been unable to stop herself from feeling the intense worry and anger that she had been blocking ever since devising her plan.

She was so worried that something had happened to Naruto or that something was going to happen to him. Her anger was at the ninja that had obviously taken him. Feeling the anger begin to ascend to the highest level she had ever felt, she heard a feminine voice in the back of her mind begin to talk in a voice that had a purring lilt to it.

"Yes my child, allow your anger to come forth, but fear not, for I will help you save your friend." Said the Nibi before it funneled its chakra into Yugito's body. As the chakra funneled into Yugito's body, her fingernails began to elongate into claws and her normal black eyes became blue slits.

After the Nibi had finished funneling her chakra into Yugito, it began to form a blue aura around Yugito's body. In a blur, Yugito was gone, for her speed nearly quadrupled with the Nibi's chakra fueling her body.

Naruto

Naruto had woken up about two hours after his captors had taken him. He had remembered back to his survival lessons when they taught you what to do when in a position where there were too many variables to make any proper course of actions.

Take stock of your surroundings and gather intelligence. That was his first objective. So keeping his eyes shut and his breathing deep, Naruto pretended to be still unconscious as he attempted to gather information with the senses that he could utilize.

Naruto could tell that he was draped over the shoulder of someone and that his hands were tied in front of him. He could also feel rope chafing his ankles and he couldn't help for his hopelessness at his situation to rise. He only assumed that since they had tied his legs that they had also found his chakra blades that were hidden in holsters around his calves.

He heard stone crunching underneath feet at a fast and regular pace. With his heightened sense of hearing, Naruto could pinpoint three different sets of crunching sounds. One emanated from underneath him, one to the left, and the other to the right. Remembering that he had only seen two assailants when he had been taken by surprise, Naruto realized that they must have met up with at least one other person.

Remembering the two assailants made him remember the hitai-ate's that they had worn. Ninja from the Konoha had taken him. Suddenly he felt his anger swell up at the situation that he was in. He had vowed to himself that he would never go back there, and now that he had a home and friends, here he was being toted off and there was nothing he could do about it.

As he felt his anger crest to new heights, Naruto suddenly lost all weariness and felt strength return to his body as he drew upon his massive chakra reservoirs out of shear willpower and squeezed out every last drop of chakra that he could.

Deciding that he wasn't going to go down without a fight, Naruto concentrated and channeled lightning chakra to his wrists and his ankles, severing all of his bonds as lightning arced out and across the ropes, shocking the person who was carrying him at the same time.

The moment his bonds had been severed, Naruto pushed off of the man's shoulder with his hands and somersaulted in midair to land in a crouch on a stone outcropping that was ten feet from where he had been when he jumped off of his captor's shoulder.

Feeling completely invigorated, Naruto took a second to feel at his ankles for his chakra blades and was surprised when he found them in their holsters. Thinking that they had thought that he wouldn't be able to escape his bonds, he pulled them from their holsters with a feeling of relief.

He was relieved that in their underestimation of his abilities they hadn't thought of taking his weapons and as a result, he wasn't going to be crippled in a kenjutsu fight, seeing as two of his assailants were drawing their katana.

Looking around himself, he realized that he had been unable to make an even close to accurate estimate of the number of ninja that had come to Kumo to retrieve him. For, as he drew his chakra blades, a total of twenty shinobi bearing the hitai for Konoha immediately made to encircle him with another hanging back.

"I swore that I would never return and I'll be damned if I will just let you take me back to that wretched village!" Naruto shouted at the ninja and was about to throw himself at the nearest ninja when the one that had held himself back spoke up in a sofe, yet commanding voice.

"You are a weapon that belongs to Konoha and if that insane Hokage would have listened to me in the first place none of this would have ever happened." The man that was standing outside the circle of ninja said.

This man wore a long black robe that left the left side of his chest and left arm bare except for a long sleeved white shirt. The right side of his face and his forehead were wrapped in a white cloth and in his left hand he carried a cane.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked the man, curious as to whom this man who claimed that he had tried to get Jiji to do something different with him was and curious as to what he had wanted to do with him. "What was it that you wanted with me?"

"Who am I? My name is Danzo Shimura. What I wanted with you? Well let's just say that I wanted the Hokage to allow me to train you. Now Torune!" Danzo yelled at the end to one of the ninja.

The ninja that went by the name Torune lifted his arm into the air and Naruto crouched, ready to launch himself at the ninja to attack. However, he hadn't expected what came next and as a result, he was too slow to react as thousands of bugs flew up from the ground and surround him.

Automatically, Naruto could feel a large decrease in his chakra and was about to try and channel lightning chakra across his body to shock the bugs when a hand chopped him in the back of the neck again. Again losing consciousness, Naruto's last thoughts weren't that he may never see his friends ever again. They were of annoyance towards whomever kept chopping him in the back of the neck.

Tracking Team

Twenty minutes past the Kumo border the tracking team came across a sign that made them pause. The two assailants that they had been tracking had met up with 19 other people and they all resumed their journey and instead of heading in the direction of Iwa, they were heading towards Fire Country and Konoha.

That was the exact moment that A began cursing long white haired old men that summoned toads. However, after a few minutes of Killer Bee trying to make him realize that Jiraiya would never have given Naruto up to Konoha, A began to agree with Killer Bee and he began curse himself. He had a spy within his midst and he never even knew it.

He had known that Jiraiya had a spy within his network, which meant that either Jiraiya's spy was double crossing the toad sage or that meant that he had two spies within his ranks. Calming himself down and putting the issue of spies aside for later thought, A had them move out again and they set off continuing to track the now nine ninja.

It was nearly 4 hours later when the tracking team finally caught up with the Konoha ninja. The Konoha ninja had stopped to rest and they had set themselves up upon a massive outcropping of rock. The tracking team observed the Konoha ninja from about a mile away before deciding to move in. Suppressing their chakra, the tracking team made their way to the ledge of the outcropping and was climbing it when all hell broke loose.

They were set upon from all directions from multiple ninja at the same time and channeling chakra to their feet, they jumped into the air, somersaulting and landing in their chosen forms. Killer Bee unsheathed all seven of his blades and threw them into the air.

As Killer Bee caught all of his blades within the crooks of different joints, Darui unsheathed his own blade and unfolded it. A was busy activating his lightning armor and C was getting ready to cast a genjutsu on their assailants.

C formed his hands in the ram seal and sparked his lightning chakra all around his body, creating a shroud of bright light that immobilized any that looked upon it. A, Killer Bee, and Darui launched themselves at the nearest enemy shinobi the moment that C had cast his genjutsu. The three Kumo ninja began to whirl through the ranks of Konoha ninja striking blows against everyone who was in their way.

Realizing that his team wouldn't stand a chance against the combined power of the Raikage, the Eight Tails Jinchuriki, and two high level Jonin, Danzo did the only thing that he could think of. Raising his voice to be heard above the cacophony created by the fight, Danzo shouted at the Raikage as he placed a kunai at Naruto's throat "stand down or the boy dies."

Even with his superhuman speed, the Raikage knew that he wouldn't be able to reach Danzo before he could kill the boy and not wanting to see the boy die, A let out an enraged yell as he realized that he had no choice but to fall back. He motioned for himself and the rest of the team to fall back and jumped in the air, somersaulting, the team landed facing the other direction and took off in the direction of Kumo.

After running for a few minutes, the team stopped to regroup and strategize. They weren't giving up, but they also couldn't just go in there and fight their way through or the man that had threatened Naruto's life would kill the boy.

All of a sudden, the four of them all felt an immense chakra surge coming from the direction of Kumo and they all recognized who it was at the same time. Just as they realized who it was, a blue blur jumped over and past them and continued on in the direction of the Konoha ninja.

Yugito

Yugito had been running nonstop for three hours when she felt the surge of chakra coming from in front of her and she knew that it was only one thing. There was a battle up ahead. Pouring more of the Nibi's chakra into increasing her speed, Yugito was about twenty minutes away from the battle when she heard an enraged yell released into the night sky and fearing the worst, she sped up even more and continued on her way.

Yugito was so focused on getting to where Naruto was that she didn't even realize that she had passed the Raikage, Bee, Darui, and another Jonin that she didn't know. Within a few minutes she made it to the battleground and saw all of the blood from the ninja that her comrades had taken down. With the speed and grace that was afforded to her by the Nibi's chakra, Yugito landed within the midst of the Konoha ninja before they could even react.

She saw Naruto's body lying in a heap on the bloody ground where Danzo had dropped him as the Konoha ninja attended to their wounds. Thinking that the boy was dead, Yugito lost it. "You killed him." She said in a small voice. "You killed him; I'm going to rip you to shreds!" Yugito shouted at the Konoha ninja who were standing in shock at the spectacle in front of them. For in front of them one second was the visage of a young blonde girl who was enraged at Naruto's apparent state of demise. The next second the blonde girl was gone, only to be replaced in an explosion of blue chakra, by the two tailed beast, the Nibi.

Yugito's mindscape

Yugito woke up lying on a hill and looked around before getting up. She walked around for a few minutes before she came upon a small portion of the area that she was in that was behind bars. Looking past the bars, Yugito saw a large blue figure curled up on a mat and as she looked closer, she saw two blue slit eyes open and look back.

"You want revenge don't you my dear child?" The blue figure that spoke stood up and revealing and swishing two tails behind her stretched as she asked her question. With feline grace, the Nibi jumped to the cage and sat down looking at Yugito with her head cocked to one side, waiting for the blonde girl's answer.

"Yes." Came Yugito's meek and fearful reply, fully knowing who she was talking to.

"Well then, you shall have your wish." Said the Nibi as blue chakra poured from her and leaked out of the cage. Forming around Yugito, the blue chakra enveloped her before oozing into her body and mixing with her own chakra.

Yugito

Yugito woke back up and realized that no more than a second had passed as she conversed with the Nibi. Suddenly she felt the Nibi's chakra flare up to the level that it had been that day that it had been placed within her.

With the anger caused by Naruto's apparent state, Yugito completely bypassed the first tail and went straight to the second tailed state. Suddenly there was an explosion of blue chakra as Yugito transformed into her two tailed state and took on the form of the Nibi.

All of the Konoha ninja were standing and staring transfixed at the sight in front of them. For in front of them one second was the visage of a young blonde girl who was enraged at Naruto's apparent state of demise. The next second the blonde girl was gone, only to be replaced in an explosion of blue chakra, by the two tailed beast, the Nibi.

All hell had broken loose. That was the only thought that was going through Danzo's mind as he watched the young blonde girl transform into the Nibi. Rooted in his spot for only a second, Danzo leapt back and started to tug his black cloak off of his body.

"To think, I am being forced to utilize that jutsu." Danzo thought to himself as he lifted his bandages from the right side of his face after finishing removing the black robe from around his body. Activating the sharingan in his right eye, Danzo whispered the name of the jutsu "Kotoamatsukami" that he was being forced to use.

Looking in the Nibi's eyes right before it exploded into action, Danzo placed in under his genjutsu. Kotoamaktsukami was a genjutsu that was known to be the strongest genjutsu ever, because the target never realized that they were being manipulated. Implanting images of destruction and death into the Nibi's mind, Danzo looked past the still form of the Nibi and saw the four Kumo ninja returning.

Placing his hands in the Ram seal, Danzo released the seal that was on a metal cast that encased his right arm. It took nearly a full minute to get the metal device off of his arm and in that time almost all twenty of his ROOT ninja had either been wounded to the point that they could no longer stand or they had been killed. The four Kumo ninja were laying waste to his forces and if he didn't hurry, all that they had done today would be for not.

Finally casting the metal cast aside, Danzo quickly flipped through several seals before shouting out his jutsu's name "Mokuton: Great Forest Technique". As he shouted the name of his jutsu, his right arm turned into several tree branches and forked out on an intercept course for the Kumo ninja. The branches forked out several more times and Danzo had to clear his mind of everything and concentrate on a level that he had never had to do to maintain control of the branches.

The Raikage, Killer Bee, and Darui were able to avoid the branches easily at first, however C wasn't so lucky. Within the first seconds of Danzo's attack had seen the Genjutsu specialist entangled within several branches that wouldn't yield for anything. A and Killer Bee had the sense to continue avoiding the branches and they both yelled at Darui as went to try and free his teammate.

Pulling his sword back to hack at the branches, Darui was only saved from being entangled himself from several branches that forked out of the branch that he had been about to chop when Killer Bee transformed one of his arms into a large tentacle and pushed him away from the branches. However, the branches had wrapped around the tentacle within the few seconds that it had come into contact with it and were rapidly running up the tentacle to its source.

Killer Bee realized that as they were right now, having to avoid the branches and the remaining ninja, that they weren't going to be able to accomplish their goal and without a second thought he started to draw upon the Hachibi's chakra. However he was too late for right before he exploded into action, Danzo shouted out the name for another jutsu "Hokage Style Elder Jutsu: Tenth Edict on Enlightment".

The moment that Danzo shouted his jutsu, several of the branches transformed into the heads of dragons and latched upon Killer Bee's arms and legs. The branches began suppressing the Hachibi's chakra before Killer Bee could utilize it and the other branches wrapped themselves around him, binding him.

Having seen Killer Bee and C grabbed by the branches, A decided to attack the one obviously controlling this jutsu and he launched himself at Danzo. Connecting his fist with Danzo's head, A stopped and stood still momentarily looking down at Danzo's corpse before it disappeared. Suddenly and before A could jump away, he was entangled by several large and thick branches.

As Danzo was grabbing A with his branches, Darui took it upon himself to attack Danzo from behind and try to end this fight. Darui launched himself forward and his blade cleaved Danzo in half, but like when A had put his fist through danzo's skull, the old man disappeared again and suddenly Darui was entangled by several large branches.

Danzo, breathing heavily after having to utilize his Izanagi and his Mokuton, stood still and stooped as he tried to catch his breath. Finally catching his breath, Danzo took a second to activate his Mokuton again and for the second time that day whispered out the jutsu "Hokage Style Elder Jutsu: Tenth Edict on Enlightment".

This time the dragon head forms launched themselves at the still form of the Nibi and began to suppress the Nibi's chakra. After a minute or two, the form of the Nibi receded to show a young and unconscious blonde that was lying in a heap on the bloody ground. Heaving a heavy sigh, Danzo turned around to face the four ninja that he had captured and was about to kill them when someone let out such an anguished yell that he couldn't help but turn around to look.

What he saw would have broken the heart of nearly anybody; that is if they had a heart. Naruto had awoken and he had seen Yugito lying in a pile on a patch of bloody ground and he had rushed over to his blonde friend. Putting his hand to her throat, the boy hoped against hope that she wasn't dead, and he let out an anguished scream when he didn't feel a pulse.

Naruto felt so much anger like he had never experienced tear at his heart and all of a sudden everything went black and he lost consciousness.

Naruto's Mindscape

Naruto awoke in a sewer area and in front of where he was lying was a cage. The anger and desolation that Naruto felt was so great that he didn't even move from where he was. He was frozen solid from the shock that having his best friend die had left him in.

He knew that the feelings that he had for Yugito were more than just that of a best friend and he knew that he just couldn't bear to live without her. He didn't know why he couldn't bear to live without her, he just couldn't. He was suddenly wishing that he could just die, that he could just fade away and cease to exist.

From the interior of the cage Naruto heard a loud and evil sounding chuckle. The cage's interior was too dark to see anything and as he lifted his head from the watery floor to look into its depths, trying to see what was inside of it, suddenly two bright crimson eyes opened and looked out at him.

As the eyes opened, the figure loomed up near the cage and Naruto got a good look at the creature within. After examining the creature for only a second, Naruto knew that he was staring into the eye of the Kyubi.

Again that chuckle came from the cage and Naruto couldn't help but shiver at the sheer amount of malice and killing intent that was coming from inside the cage. "I do believe that you were suddenly wishing that you could die. Well, as much as I would love to help you with that, I cannot let you die for if you die, then I die." The Kyubi said the last part with a grimace.

"However, I can help grant you the next best thing." The Kyubi said with a wide fox grin and his evil chuckle.

"What is that?" A mentally exhausted Naruto asked, curious as to what the fox could help him with that would be the next best thing to just fading away and dying.

"The next best thing, well that would be revenge." Once again came that evil chuckling voice.

"Revenge" thought Naruto out loud to himself. He wanted to just die, but if he couldn't do that, than he would take revenge upon the one that took away his best friend, the one person in his life that he knew he couldn't live without. "What do I need to do?" Naruto asked intent on doing whatever it took to have his revenge.

"Nothing, just sit back and enjoy the show." The Kyubi said with that same wide smile and evil chuckle. Suddenly Naruto was being surrounded by crimson chakra and as it pooled around him, he began to feel it seep inside his body.

Danzo was physically drained and he was nearing the point that he was going to lose control of his emotions. Every single one of his well laid out plans were being wrecked because of the feelings that two blond children had for each other, which were leading both to unleash the power of their tailed beast. He watched as for the second time today, a jinchuriki surrendered complete control and unleashed the fury of their tailed beast.

Naruto completely bypassed every tailed stage and went straight into a full nine tailed fox transformation. The sight was impressive to say the least and Danzo was furiously thinking of a way to escape his current predicament. He couldn't utilize his Kotoamatsukami a second time in the same day and he was positive that his Hokage Style Elder Jutsu: Tenth Edict on Enlightment wouldn't be able to suppress the Kyubi's chakra.

However, it seemed that the Kyubi wasn't in too much of a hurry to attack him as the tailed beast was attacking and killing every ninja in its path. Danzo watched with impassive eyes as every last one of his ROOT squad was killed by the beast in some way or another.

He watched as the Yamanaka boy attempted to use his Mind Body Switch Technique on the tailed beast. However, upon entering the Kyubi's body, he was roughly ejected back into his own body and the Kyubi slapped him with one of his tails only to catch him with another and crush him with it.

A previously wounded Torune attempted to utilize his lethal beetles, but to no effect as the Kyubi ejected his chakra past his body and the demon chakra instantly killed the bugs. Nearly ten seconds later Torune's claw impaled body was flung across the countryside. All of the other ROOT members were killed in some similar way and Danzo had taken the time it had taken for the Kyubi to kill them to start his escape.

Danzo was glad that he had fled because the moment after leaving, the Kyubi turned his gaze upon the four ninja that were entangled within his roots and began to gather chakra within his mouth, obviously intent on killing everyone. He realized then that they blond boy was not in control of the Kyubi at the moment and that made him even more glad to be fleeing. He remembered when the Kyubi had attacked Konoha nearly eight years ago. The beast had attacked everything and everyone within its path with a love for destruction that knew no bounds.

Suddenly the Hachibi's jinchuriki somehow burst free from the branches holding him and somehow gaining the use of the Hachibi's chakra again, he transformed into the Hachibi, and charged at the Kyub; intent on stopping the Kyubi's rampage before he killed A, Darui, and C.

Danzo stopped and took stock of his situation as he watched the colossal battle that was unfurling in front of him. The Hachibi had rushed at the Kyubi and slammed a meaty fist into the Kyubi's face before the Kyubi could finish gathering the chakra, which dissipated harmlessly.

The two tailed beast began grabbing each other with their tails and were attempting to pin the other down, only for neither of them to be able to accomplish that. Disengaging after several swipes from claws and punches from fists, the two tailed beast began to gather chakra in their mouth and they both unleashed tailed beast bombs at each other.

The Kyubi's bomb was slightly larger than the Hachibi's, but the Hachibi's was aimed slightly lower and as a result the two were launched into the air where they detonated harmlessly against each other. Even before the two bombs had detonated, the two beasts were again rushing each other and were again attempting to pin the other down.

Seeing that he was the only one of the twenty one ninja that had come to retrieve the boy left, that he had below 30 percent chakra left, that he had used up two of his sharingan for his izanagi and that he could no longer cast Kotoamatsukami for at least a day, Danzo decided to cut his losses and leave without the boy. Turning his back on the fight, Danzo knew that his only chance to escape was while the two behemoths fought.

Naruto

Naruto was feeling completely helpless. He had agreed to give the Kyubi control so that he could have his revenge, but he didn't realize just what the Kyubi had planned. He wasn't even going to get his revenge, but he would get something else if he couldn't get things back under control. He was watching helplessly as the Kyubi and the Hachibi traded blows and he realized that if he didn't do something, he might actually hurt Bee. However, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't rest control back away from the Kyubi and all he could do was sit and watch helplessly as Bee was hurt because of him.

Kyubi and Hachibi

The two tailed beasts were trading blows with their fists and each was attempting to grab a hold of the other with their tails. Finally, the Hachibi was able to wrap a tail around two of the Kyubi's legs and with a mighty roar lifted the fox into the air and slammed him back into the ground.

However, the slamming blow only seemed to further enrage the Kyubi and they enganged each other anew within seconds. The fight continued on for several minutes and the Kyubi, through his anger gaining more strength, had gained the upper hand when he had succeeded in pinning the Hachibi to the ground with his tails. Poised over the Hachibi, the Kyubi was about to strike him one last time with a blow that would rip the Hachibi's throat with his claws. Then a yell pierced the night sky.

Suddenly, the Kyubi couldn't move and he growled his anger to the heavens as Naruto suddenly began to wrest control back over his own body. For at the exact moment that the Kyubi had pinned the Hachibi, Yugito had woken up and had focused herself enough to take stock of the battle unfolding around her. Recognizing the two tailed beasts and realizing that the Kyubi was poised to deliver a death blow to the Hachibi, Yugito suddenly yelled out "Naruto, nooooo!"

Naruto

Hearing Yugito yell out to him, Naruto utilized they Kyubi's senses and noticed the young blonde down on the ground staring up at the behemoths above her with fearful eyes. Suddenly feeling a deep happiness that Yugito was alive and not dead, Naruto suddenly found the strength to wrest control from the Kyubi and stopped the Kyubi right before he delivered the blow.

After gaining control again, Naruto lost his hold on the transformation and with a large puff of smoke became himself again. He was bloody and battered from the fight while in the transformed stage and once he became himself again, he promptly fell over and lost consciousness. Killer Bee transformed back into himself when he was certain that the fight was over and he ran over to Naruto.

Feeling the boy's throat for a pulse, he huffed out a relieved sigh when he felt one, strong and steady. All of a sudden Yugito dropped down next to Naruto, enough energy left to walk over to her best friend and as she lie there next to him, she grabbed his hand and cried thankful tears that he was alive. Somehow finding the strength within her, she heaved her body over to him and wrapped him in her arms, deciding that she wasn't going to let go of him until they returned to Kumo.

Meanwhile, Killer Bee had returned to his comrades and had after a few seconds of lightning enhanced chopping with his blades, had freed them and they all returned to the two blond jinchuriki's sides. Not feeling tired in the slightest since their battle with Danzo had been bitterly short and sweet; Darui picked Naruto out of Yugito's protesting arms and put him on his back as C lifted Yugito up and on her back.

Yugito, too drained to do anything but mutter small arguments, finally ceased and allowed them to take Naruto from her and continued to watch the blond boy with worry in her eyes. When she had seen the blond boy on the ground, she had thought that he was dead and still not understanding why, she knew at that time that her life wouldn't be worth living without him in it.

The four ninja set out for Kumo, forgetting about Danzo for the moment as they needed to get Bee, Naruto, and Yugito back and let them be seen by a medic. When C and Darui passed close enough to permit, Yugito quickly moved her arm and clasped ahold of Naruto's hanging hand.

All of a sudden, Naruto suddenly woke up and looked over at the blonde girl holding his hand. Smiling a happy smile at seeing his blonde best friend alive, Naruto sunk back into the warm darkness that he had woken up from. Yugito, for her part, was practically burning with happiness when Naruto had woken up and smiled at her before falling back into unconsciousness.

C and Darui, both noticing Yugito clasp ahold of Naruto's hand, and then Naruto waking up and smiling at her, both smiled at the two young blonds. Even if Naruto and Yugito weren't able to understand it yet, almost everyone else were able to see that there emotions for each other were more than just best friends. They both knew that someday, the two were going to be more than just best friends and Darui couldn't help but feel happy for his favorite student.

A and Bee had noticed the scene as well and A for his part smiled a small smile and was merely happy that they had been able to retrieve Naruto without any Kumo ninja dying. Bee on the other hand was thinking back to that day that he had found Naruto stumbling into his camp site. Seeing the difference in the blond boy's life, Killer Bee couldn't help but be thankful that he had found him that day. He had not only been able to give Naruto a life worth living, but he had also given Yugito something that she might not have ever been able to find anywhere else. It took them nearly five hours to finally return to Kumo's border and the four ninja flew through the gates towards the hospital.

Yugito had been in the hospital for a full three days for chakra exhaustion before she had been released. However, the moment that the doctor released her from her room, she had promptly went to Naruto's room and had laid down next to him, clutching his still unconscious form to her chest. Naruto hadn't woken up since that time on their trek back and none of them knew why.

One thought was that he had used up a lot of chakra when he had transformed and he had used up even more when he had finally wrestled control of his body back and as a result was experiencing an extreme case of chakra exhaustion and that his body was merely attempting to keep him unconscious to speed up the recovery time.

Also, they were theorizing that it might have been because of the internal injuries that his body had sustained when he and Bee had clashed in tailed beast form and that the Kyubi was able to heal him easier when he was unconscious; however his injuries had been completely healed after the first night.

However, all of those guesses were incorrect as the truth was something so much simpler. Naruto was currently in his mindscape and he was bugging Kyubi for a reason for what he had done and he wasn't taking no for an answer. Knowing that the fox would keep him alive while he slept, he became a constant in the fox's life and the Kyubi was coming close to losing his mind at the boy's pestering.

Naruto's Mindscape

Naruto was sitting on a dry portion of the ceramic floor and he was looking silently at the fox that was staring back at him with a gleam of confusion in his eye. Naruto had just asked him why he had done what he had done for like the ten millionth time and he had finally gotten an answer out of the fox.

"Why did I do what I did? I did what I did because I hate being imprisoned within a human, and it was humans that put me within you. I hate it so much that I began to finally hate the people who put me here. In the end, I began to hate all humans in general and I finally had a chance to act on my hate." Kyubi said with a loud bellow that resounded around the sewer.

"I am the reason that you were an outcast within your village. I also would have killed that blonde girl that you have strong feelings for. Do you not hate me for all of that?" The Kyubi asked after watching the boy in for a second.

"Yes, I do hate you for how I was treated in Konoha and I would have hated you even more if you had killed Yugito." Naruto had said in a matter of fact voice.

"Then would you not want to kill me if you had the chance. For how you have been treated your entire life and for what I came close to taking from you and would take in the future if given the chance?" The fox had with an evil glint in his eye.

What happened next was what had the Kyubi staring at Naruto in confusion. He was confused for the blond boy had answered him with an answer that he honestly didn't expect.

"No, I wouldn't want to kill you. First off, it isn't your fault that you are in my body. Second, I don't believe that you will try to kill her a second time for I am going to make you realize that not all humans are responsible for what some others have done." Naruto had said with a determined glint in his own eye.

"Even if it takes me a hundred years, I am going to wipe your hatred away and you and I will be friends, because you are a part of me and I cannot hate you forever for something that wasn't your fault. That is a promise and I never go back on my promises, for that is my nindo, my ninja way." Naruto said with a smile on his face. Naruto had left his mindscape after saying that and the Kyubi just sat down, curled up and silently awaited the day that the boy was able to wipe away his hate.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight"Hurry up or we'll be late!" Came a yell from a blonde girl whom was waiting for her blonde friend to finish eating so that they could go to school. Today was the day that they took their academy exams and if Naruto made them late today, and they failed this year because of that, she swore that she would never forgive him.

Naruto, for his part, was barely able to contain his excitement at taking the exams and finally becoming a genin. So that was the reason that Naruto decided to ignore the fact that his blonde friend was yelling at him. The exams were truly the only thing that he could think of.

Finishing his breakfast, Naruto placed his dirty dishes into the sink and ran out of the kitchen to the front door. Grabbing his bag that Yugito was proffering, Naruto and Yugito took to the rooftops and began what was hopefully their last trek to the academy.

Naruto, who had decided that he would try to have a little fun on his last day at the academy looked over to Yugito while saying "last one to the academy buys the other whatever they want for dinner tonight." Grinning like an idiot as he said this, Naruto put on a burst of speed.

"Oh no you don't, I'm not going to let you win that easily because if I do, we'll be eating ramen for dinner again." Yugito said as she put on a burst of speed as well and quickly caught back up with her blond friend.

The two blond friends began just using their own natural speed, but they quickly progressed to using lightning chakra to enhance their speed. The two were nearly even and they were going at breakneck speeds when they saw the gates of the academy in front of them.

Naruto decided that he didn't want to lose this race and he wasn't above cheap tricks and as such he quickly thought of how to make Yugito slow down somehow and allow him to win. All of a sudden, a light bulb went off somewhere in Naruto's head and about 20 feet from the gates he quickly shouted at the blonde girl racing him.

"Hey Yugito, I think I see Omoi over there without his shirt on." That simple sentence did the trick as Yugito quickly looked to where Naruto had pointed and at the same time she began to blush a brilliant shade of crimson.

Naruto had noticed throughout the previous year that his blonde friend had been getting embarrassed around their other friends and it took a while for him to narrow it down, but it seemed to him that she only got embarrassed when Omoi was around. He would catch her stealing glimpses of their friend when she thought no one was looking and Naruto almost always had to stop himself from laughing at his friend's antics.

He wasn't jealous of Omoi, not in the least. He had no clue what Yugito's feelings for him, if there were any to begin with, were. Also, he knew that he had feelings for Yugito, but he just couldn't figure out what those feelings were and he reasoned that until he did, that he had no right to be jealous of another.

When Yugito had looked over to where Omoi was supposed to have been, she suddenly became nervous for some reason, and she lost her concentration on her lightning chakra, giving Naruto a three foot lead as they passed through the gates. Realizing that Omoi wasn't over there, Yugito looked over to a grinning and laughing Naruto and had to mentally stop herself before she went over and rammed his head into the ground for that little trick.

Just as she was about to lose her control on her actions, all of their friends walked over from another portion of the grounds and they all just stared at Naruto who was currently rolling on the ground, laughing hysterically.

Always nervous Omoi was worrying about why Naruto was laughing like he was and if anything that was causing it could have repercussions for the blond boy's ability to perform on the exams. Samui, ever graceful and stoic, merely lifted a golden eyebrow at the boy.

Since it seemed that Omoi wasn't going to ask a question, out lout that is, and that Samui wasn't going to get any answer from her raised eyebrow, Karui decided that she would get an answer out of the blond boy.

"Hey, what's got you laughing like a madman?" Karui said as she knelt down beside the boy and grabbed him by the shoulders to hold him still as he answered her.

Naruto knew that she wouldn't let him go until he answered her, so Naruto decided to tell her part of the truth. He didn't know for certain what Omoi's feelings for Yugito were and he didn't even know if the three of them had noticed Yugito's actions when around him.

"We were racing with a wager of whoever lost bought the other one dinner tonight, and Yugito here said that she wouldn't lose because she didn't want to eat ramen again." Naruto said with a grin and he watched Yugito for a moment before he continued on. He could tell that she was getting nervous about what he was going to say and he was glad that he had decided to keep her feelings to himself.

"We were about ten feet away from the gates, and she was going to win if this hadn't happened, but right before we got to the gates I had yelled out that Darui was over there with his shirt off." Naruto said this last part while pointing to where he had originally said Omoi was.

Yugito realized that he wasn't telling their friends about her feelings for Omoi and it took a second longer for her to realize what he had said. When it did, she suddenly began blushing crimson again. She couldn't help it and neither had it seemed could her other two female friends for as Naruto said this, they all began sporting blushes.

Naruto, upon seeing the three girls start blushing furiously, began laughing even harder than before as he realized that all three of his female friends must think that their sensei was hot. However, he soon stopped laughing as three different fists crashed down on his skull. Rubbing his skull and looking up at the three girls with a baleful glare, Naruto decided to shut his mouth before he said something else that made them all hit him again.

Seeing as Karui had released him to hit him, Naruto quickly jumped to his feet and dashed away to the building, intent upon finding sanctuary within its walls. Naruto thought that he was home free when Yugito and Samui just merely allowed him to run away, but then Karui decided to chase him. Naruto had been just about to cross over into the school building when Karui caught up with him.

Only able to get one good hit in before Naruto entered the school and even she wasn't stupid enough to fight in the school, Karui put all of her strength in that one blow and when it connected with the blond boy, Naruto was sent flying several feet into the school building.

Naruto decided to roll over before he jumped to his feet, but before he could jump up, he found himself staring into Darui's eyes and began wondering why Darui had such a sad smile on his face. The reason for the sad smile was that Darui had seen everything, including the race and he knew that for some reason Yugito had feelings for Naruto that she couldn't understand, but she also had feelings for Omoi.

As she was only twelve years old, and she didn't have a mother to boot, Yugito couldn't possibly understand what she was feeling and to make matters worse his favorite student was perceptive enough to pick up on her feelings for Omoi, but yet for some reason, he wasn't perceptive enough to pick up on her feelings for him.

Also, since Naruto was only twelve years old, he didn't understand his own feelings for her either. All of this combined made it to where his favorite student might very easily suffer from heartbreak in the future and he didn't want his favorite student to have to experience that. He didn't want any of his students to have to experience that, but more so in Naruto's case. The boy had experienced enough pain in his life.

"What's up Darui?" Naruto asked from his position on the ground.

Schooling his features so that his emotions weren't visible to the blond boy and thinking quickly, Darui decided that he would have a little fun with the kids. "Oh, I was just feeling sorry for you kids since I learned what the exam was today." Darui said while having to hide the evil smile that threatened to come to his face. He didn't often do things like this, but when he did, he enjoyed them immensely.

All of the friends had entered the building by now and were all beginning to feel a little nervous, more so in Omoi's case. "Uh, what is on the exam, Darui?" Naruot asked hesitantly, not exactly certain that he wanted to know if it made Darui so sad for them.

"Oh, nothing much, all you have to do is beat the Raikage in a taijutsu match." Darui said finally becoming unable to hide his evil grin anymore.

All of the students realized then that he was pulling their leg, so to speak, and they all had their respective reactions to his prank almost immediately. Samui merely lifted a golden eyebrow while Yugito and Omoi had to instantly grab onto a furiously shaking Karui who was trying to get away from them so that she could attack the jonin. Although Omoi and Yugito proved too much for Karui to get away from and exact her revenge on Darui, nobody was able to stop Naruto from unleashing hell on the jonin.

All of a sudden the blond boy started flipping his hands through seals and shouted "Water Release: Water Bullet Technique." Darui didn't have enough time to react to his favorite student's shout as they were in such close quarters and as a result ended up getting a face full of water as Naruto ejected a ball of water from his mouth.

"That's what you get for that prank." Naruto said between gasps as he was rolling on the floor laughing hysterically.

"Oh yah, well this is what you get for using a technique I taught you against me." Darui said before flipping through his own set of seals faster than any of the others could see, except for Naruto for he had seen it enough. He had been on the receiving end of this jutsu way too many times in his opinion.

"Water Release: Multiple Water Bullets." Darui shouted before launching three water bullets from his mouth, each impacting with Naruto's groin, as Darui knew that was the place to cause the most pain to guys.

All of the girls giggled when they saw Naruto's reaction, but Omoi understood the pain the boy was going through. Omoi grimaced in empathy for the boy as Naruto began cursing a stream of expletives aimed at a certain white haired jonin.

After the pain had receded far enough away, Naruto utilized his channeled chakra to his groin area and turned the water that had soaked his pants to mist, drying his pants within seconds. Darui raised an eyebrow at this since he had not taught the boy how to do that.

"It would seem that you have been practicing on your own." Darui said as the boy finally began to stand up, slowly as his groin was now aching.

"Yeah, although I still can't do multiple water bullets." Naruto said with a groan and a frown.

Chuckling, Darui turned away and told them to hurry up to the classroom and he would be in there shortly.

The five of them hurried to the classroom, their earlier confrontation forgotten, and sat in the first two rows like always. Nearly five minutes later Darui walked into the classroom and closed the door. Sitting on the front of the desk, Darui looked at his students and he couldn't help but feel proud of them. He knew that more than likely almost all of them were going to pass the test since he had been training them all in what was going to be on it, even if they didn't know that he had been doing that.

"Alright, the exams are going to start with the written portion and then when you are all finished with that, I will call you individually and we will go outside to do the physical portion. Here are your written exams. You have one hour to complete them. You may start now." Darui said all of this while he was passing the papers out and once he was finished he went to his desk and sat down to wait.

The written exam was mainly dealing with different theories of ninjutsu, taijutsu, genjutsu, and other subjects. Yugito and Samui excelled at all of the subjects and as a result were the first to finish and hand their papers in.

Next came Omoi, followed closely by Karui who excelled at the combat and survival theory sections, along with a few others, but they did have their setbacks as they both found the genjutsu and fuinjutsu, along with a few other subjects, a little harder than all of the others. Omoi was able to perform a basic fuinjutsu sealing scroll, but other than that he was like most others, unknowledgeable.

The last one to turn his paper in was Naruto, but not because he was having problems with it or anything. He just took his time because it was so boring to him. Naruto was able to do the combat and survival sections with ease, and he was okay when it came to the genjutsu. It was the subjects like science and others like it that made the blond boy lose his interest and he found himself drifting to sleep several times.

It was when he was nearing the end of the test that he perked up for that was when he came to the Fuinjutsu section, and he had been excelling in that particular field ever since Bee had taught them the scroll sealing technique. It was one of the only theory books that he was actually able to read and understand without having to go through it ten million times.

He didn't understand why he was so good at Fuinjutsu, but was remedial when it came to other academic studies and when he asked Bee about it, the older man had said that it was probably something to do with him being an Uzumaki. He had gone on to tell Naruto that the Uzumakis had been known as Fuinjutsu masters and that the greatest of seals had come from the clan.

After they had gotten Naruto back from Danzo, Bee talked to A and he had gotten the Raikage to give Naruto his family scrolls. After the boy had opened a few of the scrolls they had realized that the Uzumakis had been truly geniuses as they had sealed their scrolls somehow so that only one of their blood could read them.

Almost every single one of the Uzumaki scrolls talked about Fuinjutsu theory and practice and a few of the Namikaze scrolls did as well. A few of the scrolls each talked about their respective clan's history and Naruto cherished those scrolls as much as the Fuinjutsu ones.

In the four years since he had been given his scrolls, Naruto had read all of them and understood nearly half of the theories relating to Fuinjutsu. Not only did he understand nearly half of the theories talked about, he was able to perform almost all of the low level fuinjustu seals that were described in the scrolls.

Only the higher leveled seals still exceeded his level and among them was the Flying Thunder God Technique that his father had used to such great lengths. Naruto was able to understand the theory behind the technique, but he still couldn't pull it off for the level of concentration required far exceeded what he was able to give.

That didn't stop him from trying almost every day though, for when he was finished with his other training regimens, he would go to a secluded training ground and place the seal at one end and sit at the other. He needed to concentrate and he needed to will every cell in his body to go to that seal. He would sit and concentrate for nearly an hour every day before going back to his apartment, only to try again the next day.

A few of the Namikaze scrolls had talked about utilizing wind chakra, but it wasn't enough for him to be able to train himself in it. However, they went extensively into water chakra and seeing as Naruto already had someone to train him to utilize the chakra, he could understand those and he gained a deeper understanding because of them. He wasn't as good as some notorious water users like Kisame Hoshigaki, but he was quickly proving that he was as proficient in water techniques as he was in lightning.

Naruto finished the last part of the written exam and turned it in with a smile on his face. He knew that he had done well, and he was certain that all of his friends had as well. As Naruto sat back down, Darui called for Omoi to follow him and the two left the room to take the physical portion of the exam.

The physical exam consisted of two parts, taijutsu or kenjutsu, and ninjutsu. All of the academy students had the option of executing a sequence of taijutsu katas or kenjutsu katas. Omoi chose to perform his kenjutsu style's katas and he aced that particular portion of the exam. Next, he had to perform a substitution jutsu, a henge, and a clone jutsu. Finally, he had to perform a ninjutsu of any kind. Omoi performed all three of the jutsu, and then he created a lightning bullet. Then he was sent back to the class and was told to send the next student.

Ten minutes later found Yugito performing her own taijutsu style's katas and then performing the myriad jutsu. Another ten minutes later found Samui taking the physical portion of the test and Darui was beginning to wonder just who was going to win the Kunoichi of the Year. Both of the blonde girls had performed remarkably and he knew that they were both geniuses when it came to book work. Deciding that only time would tell just who would claim that title this year, he watched as Karui came around the corner and began to perform her taijutsu's katas.

Because Naruto was the last to finish the written exam, he was the last to take the physical portion. When it came time for him to choose whether to use kenjutsu or taijutsu he surprised Darui by choosing Kenjutsu. Naruto retrieved his chakra blades from his ankle holsters and began to flow through the katas that Darui had personally taught him for his use of the chakra blades.

Darui had known that Naruto was excellent at taijutsu, and he berated himself for not seeing this coming, but when he used this style he combined the best of kenjutsu and taijutsu and as a result it was an obvious choice for an exam. Darui watched as he smoothly and flawlessly flowed through the katas and found himself immensely proud of the boy.

His pride didn't stop there for when Naruto went on to the ninjutsu portion, the boy went all out. He performed the substitution flawlessly and went on to the clone jutsu. Instead of using the regular clone jutsu, Naruto used the lightning clone and Darui was beaming with pride as he saw him execute the advanced clone jutsu.

Next the boy flipped his hands through seals and performed the summoning jutsu for the extra jutsu and suddenly a panther appeared from the smoke. After the smoke cleared, Naruto performed the henge and became a perfect copy of the panther that was sitting next to him. Turning back into himself, he dispelled the panther and started smiling like a fool at the jonin in front of him, who was smiling just as much.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

A was so happy for the two blond jinchurikis. He really was, however if one could see the frown on his face as he looked at four files they wouldn't think he was happy about what he was reading. He was reading the genin team papers and he was currently trying to work through a major headache and a possible council uproar.

He was currently trying to set up the teams for the newest academy graduates and he kept coming back to one problem. He didn't know who he could put with his two blond jinchurikis and their jinchuriki sensei. He knew for certain that he was going to have Killer Bee be there jonin squad leader, but every squad had at least three genin.

He would have liked to put one of their friends with them, but their friends actually came from families that had made up squads in the past and from their families history their teamwork would be flawless. So he knew that Omoi, Karui, and Samui would be on the same team. He also thought about putting one of the other academy graduates, but he dismissed that thought immediately.

He didn't know how their teammate would react to finding out that the other three members were jinchuriki and he didn't want any animosity caused by it. He knew that most in Kumo didn't feel the way that others from different villages felt towards jinchuriki, but he knew that there were a few that did. That was why he was at his office in the dead of the night as he tried to think of something other than what he had already thought of to form their team.

Time Skip Three Days Earlier

A had been sitting in his office doing what he always did. He was signing and reading paperwork while simultaneously lifting a one hundred pound dumbbell with the hand he wasn't using to sign with. Every ten minutes the raikage would switch hands. It was nearly two in the afternoon when A had been visited by a courier from the Sand Village. The courier had delivered a scroll to him and told him that he had been ordered to return with a reply.

A had grumbled as he was required to put down one of his huge dumbbells so that he could unseal the scroll and read it. As he read the contents of the scroll, his white eyebrows began to arch and they were hiding in his hair by the time that he had finished reading the scroll. The missive read thus:

_Dear Yondaime Raikage,_

_I am writing to you this day to request a favor. Last night my son, the jinchuriki for the one tailed beast, was attacked by several villagers and in retaliation; he killed several of the attacking villagers. Unfortunately, among the attacking villagers, were several high ranking council members' children and they were among the casualties. Now the council is screaming for blood and although I keep up the act of not loving my children so that they might grow strong, it would break my heart to see my child harmed. Our two villages have never been allies, but our two villages have never been enemies either and so I hope that you will accept this request. Would you please take my child and adopt him within your shinobi ranks. Enclosed are his academy records and several reports by teachers commenting on his skills in regards to not only his taijutsu and ninjutsu, but his ability to utilize the shukaku. Not only do I believe that having him out of the village will save him from the many death threats that have been reaching my ears, but I know of your brother and his position and it might do some good for the boy as he might learn to control his beast. Please think on my request and promptly send your reply. I look forward to hearing from you and if you do decide to take my son in, I will personally deliver him to you so that you don't have to send shinobi to escort him from here. Thank you in advance for I do believe that you of all people, one who isn't a jinchuriki, would know what a jinchuriki's life entails and that you will take sympathy upon my boy's plight._

_Sincerely_

_Yondaime Kazekage_

Time Skip Current Day

He had instantly thought of what would happen if Killer Bee had been in that position and he knew that his brother would have fought to save his own life. He also knew that if it came to protecting his little brother, he would have sent him away to live somewhere else where the threat didn't exist, anything to make sure that his little brother was safe. So how could he in good conscious not help this poor young boy when he knew that he could save this poor boys life and possibly make it a little bit better.

He couldn't and as a result he had instantly started writing a reply to the Kazekage and he gave it to the courier with a smile. He might look like he didn't care for others that much, but secretly he truly enjoyed making other's lives better and easier, even if it left him with a headache.

He had come up with the only possible placement for the boy and it was good fortune that he would be coming only a few days after his two favorite blond genin's graduated. He knew that Killer Bee could help to train the boy in controlling his tailed beast as he had been doing with Naruto and Yugito ever since that fight with Danzo and his lackeys.

He also knew that there wouldn't be any animosity from them to Gaara for him being from another village seeing as Naruto was from Konoha originally and Yugito had come from a minor village. Nor would they show animosity towards his tenant, seeing as they had their own tenants. All in all it was one of the most perfect team placements that he could have ever dreamed of.

Not only did it give Naruto and Yugito someone who wouldn't hate them for their beasts, it also gave him an elite jinchuriki squad that could be sent on missions that normal ninja just couldn't do. So why in the world did he have such a bad feeling about it that he was at the office so late trying to think of anything else that he could do?

Sighing in frustration when he could no longer delude himself with the idea that if he thought long and hard enough that he would come up with another plan, he got up and started to leave to go to his estate. He had to get some sleep as he knew that the Kazekage and family would be arriving by tomorrow afternoon and he needed to be rested for their arrival.

Time Skip Next Day Somewhere Around Noon

A was standing tall and rigid as he waited by the main gate for his guests that were expected to arrive any minute. The aikage was standing with the entire council standing behind him as they waited to welcome their guests. Around a bend that the path had that led from the bottom of the mountain to the top of said mountain that the village was nestled at the top of the mountain came ten Sunagakure shinobi.

One of the shinobi wore the ceremonial garb of the kazekage and three were teenagers that couldn't be any older than 16 from looks alone. The other six shinobi wore the sunakagure jonin attire and stationed with three in the front of the group and three in the back.

Once they were in view of the main gate, the three jonin in the front stepped aside and allowed the Kazekage and the three teenagers to pass them as they joined the three in the back. Walking forward and lifting his hand to his headpiece, the kazekage took his headpiece off and bowed low to the raikage and the attending council.

Removing his own headpiece and bowing low to the kazekage, A spoke in a low but deep voice. "I am glad to see that you had a quick and uneventful trip lord kazekage."

Looking at the dark skinned raikage in the eyes and smiling for the first time in a week, the kazekage spoke in an equally low tone that however lacked the deepness that the raikage's voice held. "Thank you, lord raikage, for your concern. Again, let me thank you for granting me this favor. You truly do not know how much this means to me." The kazekage said as he turned his gaze on a redheaded boy standing next to him.

"I may not know how deeply you feel about this, but I do know what I would do if my brother were ever threatened and because of that there is no possible way that I could not grant your favor. Please let me ask a favor of you in return though." The raikage said in a gentle tone and a pause at the end. Upon hearing that the raikage would ask for a favor in return, the kazekage wasn't shocked in the least as he had figured something like this would happen.

"I will take your son in as a shinobi of Kumogakure. He will become a kumogakure genin and a citizen of this fine village. All that I ask in return is that you and your family come to visit him at least three times a year. Even if he is coming here for protection and there is a considerable distance between our nations, no child should have to live without seeing their family at least every once in a while." The raikage said with a smile.

The kazekage's eyes widened at hearing the request as he had expected some request in the form of either monetary gain or military gain, and he could tell by the widening eyes of the council behind the raikage that they were expecting their leader to ask for something else as well. After the raikage asked his own request the kazekage smiled a warm smile that he normally hid from everybody as he accepted the raikage's request.

Time Skip Somewhere Around Three

The raikage was sitting behind his desk lifting dumbbells with both hands as he had guests and he wasn't doing any of the paperwork that was amounting into a large pile on his desk. His guests were the kazekage and the kazekage's children. After the two had talked earlier, the kazekage had introduced his children starting with his oldest and ending with Gaara.

The oldest, a teenage blonde girl with four ponytails and sparkling green eyes, was 15 years of age. She was tall for her age, around 5'2" and was slim. The girl wore a purple off the shoulder garment that extended to halfway down her thighs. She also wore a red sash around her waist and incorporated fishnet, said fishnet being worn on the shoulders and on her right calf and left thigh. Topping it all off was a Sunagakure hitai around her neck. The girl was introduced as Temari.

The middle aged one was a boy with a weird triangular face paint design. The boy was 14 years of age and he was a little taller than his sister at 5'4". He wore a black and baggy full body suit with a red and yellow circle on the front. The boy was also wearing a black hood that covered his head completely. The hood had catlike ears and had the boy's hitai sown into it. This boy was introduced as Kankuro.

The third and the child that they were all here about was a redheaded boy with the kanji for love on his forehead. The boy shared his sister's green eyes, but there was a noticeable difference between the two. Where Temari eyes were bright and vibrant, this boy's eyes held the sadness and despair of a jinchuriki. Also stacked upon the difference were the black rings around his eyes showing that he rarely got much sleep. If A had to guess as to the reason for that, he would guess that the boy's seal wasn't strong enough to keep the shukaku in line when he was asleep.

The redheaded boy was 12 years old and was short for his age standing at around 4'7". The boy wore a brownish read pair of overalls with long sleeves and an upright collar. He wore a white strip of cloth over his right shoulder and his left hip and a wide leather band over his left shoulder and right hip. With this leather band the boy was carrying a large gourd on his back. His hitai was wrapped around the leather band. He was introduced as Gaara, the jinchuriki to the one tailed beast, the shukaku.

They were all sitting in the raikage's office as they awaited three people that A had sent for when they had arrived at his office. It had been nearly ten minutes ago that he had sent for the three people and knowing his brother's love of rapping love rhymes to any female within eyesight, he was expecting it to take some time for them to arrive. Thus he was pleasantly surprised when he heard a knock on his door before Mabui stuck her head in and told him that they were there.

Telling her to send them in, A put down his dumbbells and stood up and as he stood so did the kazekage and his three children. First came his brother who was rapping love rhymes to his secretary who was blushing furiously at the attention she was getting from Killer Bee. Behind him was his favorite two blond jinchurikis, both of which were sporting tick marks at Bee's antics.

"Hey bro, what you want?" Killer Bee asked as he walked in the door and lifted an eyebrow as he took stock of the four other people in the room. Recognizing the hitais and the ceremonial robes as those belonging to Sunagakure, Killer Bee suddenly had an idea where this was going. He might act stupid and silly, but in truth the man had an analytical mind that could rival that of Konoha's Nara clan. He just didn't let it show.

Once they had all entered and Mabui had closed the door again, A motioned towards Gaara and answered Bee's question. "The kazekage here has asked me to grant him a favor and that would be taking his youngest son here into our ranks as a kumogakure shinobi. The reason that you three are here is that the four of you share something in common. Gaara here is the jinchuriki to the one tailed beast, the shukaku."

"Naruto here is the jinchuriki to the nine tailed beast, the kyubi. Yugito here is the jinchuriki to the two tailed beast, the nibi. Last, my brother Killer Bee here is the jinchuriki to the eight tailed beast, the hachibi." A spoke about the three jinchuriki while looking directly at Gaara.

Everybody but the jinchuriki's eyebrows rose and they sported varying degrees of shock on their faces. The kazekage had known about Killer Bee, but he hadn't known about the two blond jinchurikis. Being the kazekage, he was able to hide his shock better than his two children, but not good enough that it wasn't visible at all.

Temari and Kankuro were metaphorically shitting their pants in fear. They knew how powerful their little brother was and at how he lost control so easily that they couldn't imagine how powerful the three in front of them were and how much easier it would be for them to lose control. All three of them held stronger tailed beasts than their little brother, with two of them holding the strongest known.

The jinchurikis weren't surprised as Gaara had been utilizing the shukaku's chakra for several years now and was proficient enough to sense another tailed beast's chakra. Naruto and Yugito had been training with Bee in utilizing the tailed beast's chakra as well and as a result were able to notice another tailed beast's chakra the moment they had come close to the building. They had been curious as to the identity of said tailed beast and now their curiosity was sated in that regard.

Now Naruto was beginning to wonder just why sharing something with the boy would make A bring them all to this meeting. As if the raikage were reading his thoughts, A spoke up as he motioned to their group with one hand and to Gaara with another.

"The reason you are all here is that since Gaara is going to be a kumogakure genin, and you two just graduated yourselves, I have decided to team you three up and have Killer Bee as your jonin sensei." A said as he smiled at the shocked faces that adorned all of the teenagers in the room.

Time Skip Around Three Days Later

It had been three days since A had made that statement and shocked every single teenager in the room. Bee hadn't been shocked because he had seen it coming when he realized that Gaara was going to be staying in Kumo. It was only logical to pair them all up together.

The kazekage had been surprised when he found out about the two blond jinchuriki; but when A announced the team makeup he hadn't been surprised since he too had known it was logical. His three children were truly shocked seeing as they had not known the true reason for them coming to Kumogakure.

He hadn't wanted to have an argument with his children so he told them they were merely going along with him so that they could learn diplomacy first hand. A partial truth is always the best lie. It was a partial truth because of the fact that what they were doing was diplomacy and politics at its heart. He was just glad that he hadn't been forced to give up something for this, even though he knew that he would have done anything to get the raikage to allow his son to come here.

Naruto and Yugito were merely shocked at the fact that they were going to be in an all jinchuriki squad. They really didn't care that the boy was from another village or that he was the kazekage's youngest son. All they cared about was the fact that he was going to be their teammate.

The kazekage had asked if they could be allowed to stay in Kumo for another three days so that he could give his children time before having to say their goodbyes. He wanted to give them some time together before they left because he knew that it probably wouldn't be another three months until they could return, if not longer.

The raikage had told them that they could stay in his estate if they liked for as long as they wished. He understood and agreed with the kazekage's reasoning behind his idea and he couldn't help but feel sorry for the boy. He had left everything he had ever known behind him and he didn't even realize it. The least they could do would be to give him a little time with his family before he had to say goodbye.

That had been three days ago and now you could find the kazekage, his family and their guards again at the main gate into and out of Kumogakure. The only difference from before was that Bee, Naruto and Yugito were there as well. Also, a young redheaded boy was saying goodbye to his family while trying his best not to tear up.

He might act like he hated everything in the world because of his lot in life, but in truth he still cared for his sister and brother. His father however he truly hated and came as such a surprise that his father was trying to protect him from the people in Sunagakure that meant him harm.

Even though he appreciated that his father was showing concern for his wellbeing, it didn't make up for what he had done to him and through him his mother. He had been told long ago how his mother had come to die. He had been told that his father had had the shukaku sealed within him when he was still inside his mother's womb and that something had gone wrong in childbirth as a result.

After he had said goodbye, kazekage, his children, and the guards all turned to leave and started out on the path. Before they had gotten ten feet from the gate Gaara broke down into tears and he ran after them. Seeing this, all of the attended Kumo ninja had to fight not to cry themselves at the raw emotion that was sliding off of the boy. They wouldn't wish this upon anyone.

Catching up with his family, Gaara yelled out for them to wait and they all turned around with shocked faces at the tears streaming down his cheeks. As he finally go to them, Gaara threw himself into his sister's arms and let it all loose. He could no longer contain the emotions he was feeling and like a dam's flood gates bursting open, he finally begun being racked by sobs as his crying intensified.

The kazekage and his family were shocked to say the least. They had never seen Gaara act this emotionally around any of them and they all thought that their little brother hated them along with the world. Upon seeing the redheaded boy's tears that had come because they had to leave him here, the other two children started to cry.

In a rare show of love for his family, the kazekage grabbed kankuro by the shoulder and walked over to his two other children and enveloped all three of them in his arms. Finally becoming unable to hide his own emotions, the kazekage allowed himself to cry, something that he hadn't done in the twelve years since his wife had passed.

Gaara was drowning in all of the emotions that he was experiencing and that his family was experiencing as well. All of a sudden he felt a hand on his shoulder that didn't belong to any of his family. Looking up, his green eyes looked straight into cerulean ones and he saw understanding and empathy inside them.

"Don't be sad Gaara because even though you probably won't see them a couple of months, you won't be alone." Naruto said with a wide smile on his face as he tried to cheer up the redheaded boy.

Upon hearing Naruto's words, for some reason Gaara suddenly felt the emotional torrent inside him let up a little and he finally was able to stop crying. Seeing the boy's smile widen even more at what he had accomplished, Gaara couldn't help but feel a little happier than he had been. He truly was no longer alone for he now had three people who could truly understand what he had gone through his entire life.

The reactions to Naruto's and Gaara's exchange were varied. His family wore what was becoming a constant face of shock. They had never been able to cheer up their little redheaded family member like the blond in front of them had just done. Even though they were going to miss him, they couldn't help but feel that Gaara might just become a little happier living here and having the three other jinchuriki around.

The raikage and Bee's reactions were that of big and proud smiles at how Naruto was able to cheer the redheaded boy up. They were both thinking at the same time about how the boy had a gift for making others feel better. Like the raikage and Bee, Yugito was experiencing a dose of pure pride in her blond best friend. She had long ago noticed that Naruto could cheer anyone up when they were down.

After another goodbye to his family, Gaara stood next to Naruto and they both watched the Sunagakure ninja until they had disappeared around the bend before they both turned around and walked back to the gate. Neither one of them knew it at that moment, but they had both just started down the road of friendship that would last their entire lives.

Time Skip Two Days Later

As Bee lived in a fairly large apartment, they had just enough rooms to accommodate another person and because of that A had given Gaara the choice of either living alone in an apartment or living with the three jinchuriki. Not wanting to be alone since he had never lived alone before, he decided that he would stay in Bee's apartment and thus all four jinchuriki could be found eating breakfast at the same table.

After they had all finished eating and gotten their ninja gear together, the four of them left the apartment and made their way to a training ground that was in a fairly secluded portion of the mountains and would more than likely have no other occupants at the time. They were going to meet A there. None of the teenagers knew why they were going there, but Bee did as he and A had talked about it two nights ago.

They had both wanted to know what Gaara's skills were, what his strengths and weaknesses were, and all that good stuff and they had decided that the best way to figure it out was to have a test. The two had thought for a little while before they came up with the test that they had decided upon. They were going to have an all-out spar between the three teenagers and Bee. A would watch from the sidelines and analyze everything.

They didn't only want to see Gaara's skills for they knew that their two blond jinchuriki's had been sneaking out late at night and were secretly training in the middle of the night trying to get better at their respective projects. Bee knew that Yugito was currently learning to utilize the Nibi's chakra during combat and so they assumed that the girl was training in that.

They would have thought that Naruto was training in the same thing except for the fact that the Kyubi was being a very bad tenant. They couldn't get it to acknowledge Naruto whenever he went to the thing attempting to get him to allow him to use a little of his chakra. They figured that time would make the fox get tired of ignoring the persistent blond and start working with him, but they had no clue as to how long that might take.

Because of that and the fact that the only thing that the boy would be training in that they could think of was what he read in his family scrolls, and since they couldn't read those as they were sealed so that only one of their blood could read them, they had no clue as to what the boy had been training in.

Upon reaching the training ground, Bee saw A standing off to the side while lifting a pair of dumbbells that he had brought with him. Bee walked over to his brother and stopped and they both turned to the three teenagers. The two of them began to explain to the three why they were here and they all saw grins break out across Naruto's and Yugito's faces. There was no visible change to Gaara's emotions but the redheaded boy was happy to spar as sparring with others was one of the few things that he actually enjoyed.

Telling them that they had ten minutes to spar with Bee and that if they could defeat him, that they would be treated to a celebratory dinner, they all watched as Naruto looked at Yugito and saw her look back at him. Something seemed to pass between the two blond jinchuriki's and they nodded their heads to each other.

Nobody but the two of them knew what that exchange had held, but A and Bee could have probably guessed as to what it was. There guess would have been correct too as they were both telling each other to utilize the techniques that they had helped each other train to use after they had caught each other sneaking out one night to go train. Instead of turning each other in, they made a deal to train together and work on their skills until they were good enough to use against others.

It had been nearly two years since they had caught each other sneaking out and started training together. Because of them training together and pushing each other to do better, they were further along than they would have been otherwise and they had gotten a few techniques down to a point that they could be used in the middle of a fight.

A set a timer off to the side and started it for ten minutes and once he was done the four jinchurikis jumped into the field with Bee jumping to the center and the three teenagers surrounding him. Gaara had jumped near a section of crumbling boulders that he had noticed upon getting to the training ground and having its purpose for today revealed. He sent his chakra into the crumbling boulder and started making more sand as he figured that he would probably need some extra just in case.

Yugito had jumped into a portion of the training ground that had high grass and boulders placed every few feet around each other. Deciding to go all out from the beginning, Yugito formed her hands into a ram seal and sent a mental query to her tenant. In answer, Yugito felt an immense tide of Nibi's chakra rise up from her tenant and suffuse into her chakra network and mix with her own chakra.

She had been given so much chakra that not only did she gain a shroud of blue chakra that looked like blue flames licking her body, but she had also learned how to control the Nibi's chakra enough that she could retain control of herself in a first tail stage. Bee was sporting a shocked face as Yugito bent down and placed her palms on the ground and stood on all four of her feet like a cat ready to pounce on a mouse.

He was even more shocked when her chakra shroud grew and a tail formed at her tail bone. Yugito grinned at Bee's expression and her normal black eyes flashed blue. Naruto didn't look shocked at all which made Bee and A realize that they were seeing what Yugito had been training on with Naruto at night.

After seeing where Gaara and Yugito had jumped to, Bee looked around for Naruto and found the blond sitting on the ground near a river while forming his hands in the ram seal. Naruto gather enough chakra and started flipping his hands through a set of seals that he had memorized quite a long time ago. Suddenly three lightning clones stood next to the still sitting original and he placed his hands back into the ram seal.

It was going to take a lot of chakra for this jutsu and he figured he might as well start gathering it now. One of the clones ran over to stand next to Yugito while the other ran over to stand next to a slightly impressed Gaara. He could use an earth clone, but he knew that lightning clones were slightly harder to use because of their secondary use of exploding into an electric charge when dispelled.

The two clones filled the two other jinchuriki in on Naruto's plan and they both nodded over to the original and the Naruto clones all sported feral grins directed at Bee. Gaara realized that he had finally broke down enough of the boulder for backup sand and so he sent the sand in his gourd to attack Bee while he merely stood with his arms crossed over his chest and a bored expression on his face.

The same time that Gaara's sand started rushing towards a shocked Bee at seeing Gaara's level of control over sand, the clones of Naruto launched themselves at Bee while the one that was with Naruto stood by the original's side to protect him while he gathered his chakra.

Bee wondered what Naruto was going to use that he needed to gather so much chakra for, but he was brought out of his thoughts as the sand finally reached him, and a few seconds later so did the clones. Jumping back to avoid the sand, Bee had to quickly somersault to his right to avoid a chakra blade laced with lightning chakra that came out of nowhere.

The moment his feet hit the ground they were in the air again as he back flipped to avoid powerful roundhouse kick from the other clone. As his feet hit the ground again, he started to slip backwards and he realized that Gaara's sand was directly underneath him and started channeling chakra to his feet to keep his balance and to stand on top of the quickly collecting pile of sand instead of slipping inside of it.

The next thing he saw was a blue blur and he suddenly felt chakra graze his side and he felt as if a cat had scratched his side. Again back flipping to avoid the new threat that came in the form of a stage one nibi jinchuriki, Bee decided to take things to the offensive instead of staying on the defensive.

Pulling three of his blades out he began channeling lightning chakra into them and he charged at his students. One of the clones blocked his strikes with his chakra blades and the other sent a roundhouse kick at Bee's midsection. Bee caught the clone's leg before it could connect and transformed his fist and forearm into a tentacle and swung the clone around before releasing it to fly towards a rapidly approaching blue blur.

All of a sudden Bee saw the original Naruto started flipping through seals and it was taking him a good amount of time to complete it. Suddenly the sand around his feet latched on as the clone in front of him and the clone he had thrown like a ragdoll before getting up and coming back at him grabbed his arms and held on so that he couldn't jump away.

Finally Naruto finished the seals that he was going through ending with the bird seal before shouting out the name of the jutsu. "Water Release: Water Dragon Jutsu." The blond jinchuriki shouted as the river behind him began to rise and take on the form of a dragon with yellow eyes. The dragon opened its mouth and roared in the direction that Bee was in before launching itself at the jinchuriki that was rooted still by sand and two blond clones.

"I didn't think that I would have to resort to using the Hachibi's chakra." Bee thought as sent a mental query to his tenant and in return felt chakra pour into his network and strength surge into his limbs. Taking a partial transformation, Bee transformed his arms into tentacles and flung the clones that were holding onto them like ragdolls.

After tossing the clones, Bee brought his tentacles up and enlarged them even more and used them as a shield to block the water jutsu that the blond had launched at him. Pouring chakra into his legs to hold him steady, Bee still nearly buckled from the power behind the jutsu as it exploded against his tentacles.

The original Naruto saw his clones tossed across the clearing and saw Bee bring his tentacles up to block his attack and smiled a smile that no one could see. "I figured he might do something like that. It's a good thing that I found that scroll or else I wouldn't have this up my sleeve." Naruto thought to himself as he started channeling chakra to each of his individual fingers.

The scroll that he had found had been buried within another sealed scroll that he had inherited from the Uzumaki clan and it contained one particular fuinjutsu that Naruto had been training himself constantly to be able to use. He finally had a chance to test it to.

After a few seconds the chakra that he had been channeling started to envelope his fingers in a blue light. After a few more seconds the chakra took on the form of a different kanji over each finger. They were the kanji for the five elements: water, metal, earth, fire, and wood. He started running at Bee and when the dark skinned jinchuriki lowered his tentacles to the ground he pounced while striking with his hand at Bee's stomach where he knew the man's seal was.

"Fuinjutsu: Five Element Seal." Naruto shouted as his fingers made contact with Bee's stomach.

As his fingers touched Bee's skin, Bee bent at the waist as he felt his air leave his lungs in a loud whoosh. His abdomen was burning like it was on fire and he couldn't seem to breath. After a few seconds Bee was able to gulp in some much needed air and tried to stand tall and had to suppress a groan as his every muscle convulsed.

"When did he learn that jutsu?" Bee thought as he looked at his blond student that was standing with his hand outstretched the way it was when he had struck and wearing a large grin.

Not having mastered the jutsu, he wasn't able to make his target lose consciousness like the scroll had said would happen most times, but he still hoped that he had made Bee at least lose some of his chakra control. His hope was rewarded as when Bee tried to gather his chakra to strike at the blond in front of him that was smiling like an idiot and found that he couldn't even sense his chakra let alone gather it.

"Looks like I can't channel chakra anymore, so I guess that means you all win this spar. There isn't anything else for us to do today so I suggest that you go and train. However, you and I are going to have a little chat about what you just did." Bee said while keeping a wide smile from reaching his face.

He was extremely proud of his two students and he was impressed by Gaara's skills as well. However, he knew now that Naruto was messing in an art that could have severe repercussions with the slightest mess up and he needed to make sure that Naruto knew that. Still, all of that said, he was extremely impressed that Naruto had learned how to do that seal from a scroll. The potential the boy had was truly astounding.

Time Skip Two Weeks Later

"Imagine your chakra in two pieces and grinding against each other. Take this leaf and place it in your palm and channel your chakra into it. Your chakra will cut it in half once you have learned how to channel wind chakra." Gaara said to his blond teammate that shared an affinity with him.

They had been training for a few days when his new team had realized that he held an affinity for wind style and after 2 weeks of working together Naruto had asked the redheaded boy for advice. Gaara, being happy that he wasn't alone in his world anymore, became even happier for some reason when he realized that he could help his blond friend out.

"Friend, I wonder when I started thinking of him like that." Gaara thought to himself as he realized what he had called Naruto in his mind. He had never had friends before, but he knew deep down that Naruto was his friend. He also wondered why he felt so happy that he could help the blond out, but when he couldn't figure an answer for either question, he decided to drop them for now.

"You won't get it right away, nobody ever does. Wind chakra is the hardest to learn how to utilize, however those with the determination to do so gain an extreme gift. Wind style jutsu are some of the strongest there are and can easily be paired with other jutsu to strengthen them." Gaara went onto explain so that Naruto didn't feel discouraged when he didn't see results right away.

Naruto took the leaf in his hand and channeled his chakra into it, making sure to imagine it splitting into two halves and grinding against each other. He channeled his chakra into the leaf for nearly ten seconds when he opened his eyes to see that the leaf was completely undamaged.

"Thanks Gaara for the advice. After I train in this for a couple of hours, would you like to have a spar?" Naruto asked as he sat down on the ground and prepared himself for a few mind numbing and result less hours.

"Sure." Was all that the redheaded boy said in reply.

Naruto sighed as he realized that he still had a long way to go until he got Gaara out of his shell. The boy would talk when need be, and he would answer any question sent his way, but he would remain silent otherwise and he would often be caught staring off into the distance. Naruto knew what was on his mind. The same thing had been on his mind when he first came here and truth be told it was still on his mind even today.

"You miss it don't you?" Naruto asked with a sympathetic smile on his face.

"Yes." Again came the short and sweet reply.

"How long will it take for me to stop missing it?" Gaara asked suddenly as he turned his homesick eyes upon his blond friend.

"I don't know, to tell you the truth, I still miss Konoha. No matter what they put me through, that was where I was from, where my family was from. Also, there were a few people there who didn't treat me like complete crap so it wasn't all bad. At least I had Jiji." Naruto said as he put his hand on his friend's shoulder.

Gaara looked at the hand on his shoulder and felt warmth enter his heart that he hadn't felt in a long time. The last time he had felt said warmth was before he had killed his uncle Yashamaru. He knew now that his uncle had still loved him with his dying breath and that he had been ordered by the kazekage to attack him. Just one of the reasons he truly hated his father.

However his feelings for his father were dwarfed by the contentment and companionship that he felt at that moment. Allowing a smile to grace his face, Gaara told him that he had to go and buy some stuff and that he would be back to spar with him in a few hours leaving Naruto happy that he had been able to help another find happiness in their existence.

Time Skip Two Weeks Later

Bee was standing on top of one of the largest mountains in the land of lightning. He was watching the quickly dwindling features of his three genin jinchuriki squad members. They were quickly moving into the valley towards the other mountain peak.

They were having a team work training mission since they had to complete three said missions before the Raikage would even think about giving them a C rank mission. They were to survive the three day journey from this peak to the next, retrieve several scrolls that were stashed at places marked on a map that was given to them, and return to Bee within two weeks.

They would need to rely upon each other's differing skills to traverse the landscape, survive among its inhabitants, and eventually retrieve said scrolls. Each scroll was hidden among trap riddled temples that when tripped would make elemental attacks upon the teams. Said attacks could be easily avoided by either disarming the traps, or they could be defeated by utilizing jutsu to negate them.

"Good luck squirts!" Bee shouted out at their almost disappeared forms.

Time Skip Two Hours Later

"Fuin." A particular blond boy said as he poured chakra into his hand that was resting over a scroll that had some intricate ink work on it. Within seconds, there was a large puff of white smoke that appeared that completely blocked out the form of the blond and when it cleared his two teammates were extremely grateful that they had allowed him to seal all of their equipment.

Yugito knew that she could seal and unseal her own pack and stuff, but it would take a lot out of her since dimensional jutsu took a lot of chakra from the user. Since Naruto was genetically predisposed to having larger chakra reservoirs than others, he was able to pull off sealing jutsu and only use a small fraction of his considerable chakra.

If she tried sealing and unsealing equipment whenever they might need it throughout their mission, she would end up having to tap into the Nibi's chakra if they ended up in some kind of confrontation and even though the Nibi was more than content to allow her jinchuriki to use her chakra unlike her nine tailed counterpart, Yugito still preferred to use her own chakra in fights if she could help it.

Gaara on the other hand just simply didn't know how to do any fuinjutsu. He had never learned fuinjutsu since Sunagakure didn't have any sealing masters and the few that did know how to seal only knew the basics. Thus it was a subject that wasn't given the highest of priority at their academy.

Not only could he utilize fuinjutsu to an extent that the other two couldn't, but it would seem that he thought of everything that they might need. Upon the scroll rested three packs with each of their individual items. Another pack rested next to them and it contained two weeks' worth of dried meats and nutrient bars. Another pack rested next to it and it contained medicinal supplies that should accommodate any injuries that the three jinchuriki received that weren't healed by their tenants.

After handing each of his teammates their respective packs, the blond boy went about taking some food out of one of the other packs and gave a portion to each of his teammates. After he finished eating his own dried meat and nutrient bar dinner, Naruto placed his hand above the materials still on the scroll and mumbled "Fuin."

Again another puff of smoke appeared, this one being quite smaller than the last, and once it cleared revealed the packs to be once again sealed away. "I'll unseal it again tomorrow for breakfast so that nothing happens to it in the meantime, just in case." Naruto said with a roll of his shoulders before pulling his sleeping bag out of his pack and lying down to get some sleep.

Since Gaara didn't sleep at all because of his weak seal, he would be on guard all night which would allow the other two to get a full nights rest. Not long after Naruto drifted off, Yugito prepared her own sleeping bag and went to sleep just as fast as her blond teammate.

Gaara finally went to sit upon a boulder that was a few feet from his teammates and he looked off into the distance. He was thinking about his past and his future, about how his life had been, how it was now, and how it was going to be. He was truly glad that he finally found others that knew how he felt and that had shared his pain. He finally had friends.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

"Have you tried waking him up yet? Yugito asked her redheaded friend as she stuck a toe into her blond friend's side and nudging him with it. Getting no response from a sleeping Naruto, she looked over to Gaara in time to catch him shake his head no.

"Well, you might as well give it a try, but if I were you I wouldn't be too close to him when you do. He can be quite cranky in the mornings." Yugito said to Gaara before walking away to put her sleeping bag away. Suddenly Naruto yelled out in a surprised and angry voice.

"Gaara, put me down this instant or I swear I will sick Karui on your ass." Naruto said to his redheaded friend knowing that he was for some reason petrified by their other redheaded friend. Yugito looked over in time to see Naruto being hung upside down about five feet off of the ground with sand looped around one ankle.

The moment that Naruto voiced his threat, Gaara got a panicked look on his face and lost his concentration on maintaining his sand. The next thing that Yugito heard was Naruto collapsing with a scream and an almighty oomph as he finally hit the ground having twisted around so that he fell on his back instead of his head.

"When I said put me down I didn't mean drop me Gaara!" Naruto yelled in a hurt tone to his redheaded teammate as he rubbed his back trying to get the pain to go away.

Chuckling at her teammates' antics, Yugito told Naruto to unseal some food for breakfast and to seal their packs away again. Within minutes the three of them were sitting together eating a small breakfast, the two boys' fight completely forgotten. Finishing his breakfast before everyone else, Naruto went to seal their packs away again and returned once he was finished.

The three of them then unfurled the map that Bee had given them and looked at it. They were about two hours from the peak and on it were three different temples that were about an hour away from each other. Picking one of the temples at random and decided to head to it first once they made it to the peak.

Time Skip Around Two Hours Later

"That's one big ass temple." Naruto said under his breath as they stood staring at the monolith in front of them. The temple was pyramidal in shape and was made out something that resembled amber. The temple had four obelisks spread out on the outside with one on each side of the temple. The temple was surrounded by a river on each side as well.

The three of them noticed an entrance on what appeared to be a second story of the temple with what looked like a terrace surrounding it and channeling chakra to their feet the three of them jumped up and landed lightly upon the terrace. The three of them quietly and slowly walked through the entrance and stopped once they were inside.

Naruto and Yugito looked at Gaara and he nodded in their direction before sand began to flow out of his gourd on his back. The sand started to go down the hall and ended up slipping into smaller amounts as the hall forked off in different directions several times. The sand went down all the halls and into all the rooms before finally coming back to him trickle by trickle.

After twenty minutes of patiently waiting for all of his sand to return, Gaara nodded to his teammates and led the way down the hall. He turned at several forks and led them down a flight of stairs. Once they were down on the first floor, he led them down several other hallways before leading them back up another flight of stairs to what felt like the third and final story of the temple.

After navigating a few more hallways, the three of them ended up in a fairly large room with four obelisks surrounding a pedestal. The pedestal looked like the temple from the outside and the obelisks were surrounding the pedestal the same way the obelisks surrounded the temple. Upon the pedestal rested a large blue scroll.

The three of them examined the pedestal and the obelisks and when they didn't find any traps walked forward and picked the scroll up off of the pedestal. The moment that Yugito lifted the scroll off of the pedestal water began to fill several cracks in the floor around the pedestal that once they were filled resembled the rivers around the temple.

All of a sudden the obelisks surrounding the pedestal began to glow with blue chakra and the water in the cracks began to churn as it rose behind each obelisk in the form of a miniature water dragon. The water dragons looked at the three of them and went to launch at them, but Naruto and Gaara had already started flipping through hand signs and they shouted out the names of their respective jutsu at the same time.

"Water Release: Water Bullet Jutsu!" Naruto yelled as he ejected a bullet of water roughly the same size as the miniature water dragon in front of him from his mouth.

"Wind Release: Wind Bullets Jutsu." Gaara said before ejecting three wind bullets, one for each of the other miniature water dragons.

As the two boys' jutsu collided with the water dragons a huge mist came up from the resulting collisions and they all heaved a relieved sigh before turning to leave the pedestal. The moment they walked through the obelisks, they felt the entire temple shake and they saw water begin leaking from the roof of the temple.

All of a sudden all of the similarities between the temple and the pedestal clicked within their minds and they knew what had happened outside. The moment that the miniature water dragons had been launched at them inside the temple, four regular sized water dragons had been launched at the temple itself.

"Let's get out of here, we don't know how many water dragons those obelisks can fire off and we're screwed if we get caught in here and it ends up launching more!" Naruto yelled at his two teammates as they began running down the path that they had come in by.

After two different flights of stairs and several hallways, they finally found themselves back at the entrance and were looking directly into the yellow eyes of a water dragon that was surrounded by a thick mist. Naruto looked over at Gaara and they both nodded to each other before flipping through a different set of hand signs.

Yugito watched in amazement at her two teammate's teamwork as they both ended their seals and yelled out the name of their respective jutsu. She finally realized just what they had been up to for the last two weeks as they had been training together almost continually.

"Water Release: Tearing Torrent!" Naruto yelled as the mist condensed into water in his hand before flying out at the water dragon that was bearing down on them.

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough." Gaara mumbled before thrusting his fist towards Naruto's tearing torrent.

"Hurricane Vortex Jutsu!" The two boys shouted in unison as Gaara's great breakthrough collided with Naruto's tearing torrent and the two jutsu merged.

When the hurricane vortex and the water dragon collided, all three of them were lifted off of their feet and thrown back several feet from the force of the collision. The three of them got shakily to their feet and walked back to the entrance. Realizing that this was their chance to get away, the three of them channeled chakra to their feet and jumped down from the terrace.

As the water began churning in the river again, the three of them ran towards the bridge in the direction of the next temple and crossed over it just before it was destroyed by a water dragon slamming into it. The three of them ran for a few minutes before stopping to catch their breath.

Naruto looked over at them with that trademark grin and began to laugh. Yugito couldn't stop herself as she began laughing as well and even Gaara chuckled a little. This went on for several minutes before Yugito and Naruto were able to get themselves under control and started them on their way to the next temple.

Time Skip Around 2 Hours Later

They had reached the second temple within two hours of leaving the first. The second temple had been exactly like the first, except that there had been no rivers. They had taken an hour attempting to find any traps before making their way into the temple.

Everything had gone perfect, just like the last time, until they pulled the scroll off of the pedestal. They had been wary of it this time and were ready for the pedestals to launch an attack at them, yet it wasn't enough. They were surprised when the pedestals activated and launched a lightning chakra four pillar barrier around them.

Naruto walked up to the barrier and before any of his teammates could stop him, the blond haired boy touched the barrier, which shocked him into unconsciousness. Yugito ran over to her blond haired friend, scared out of her mind that he had been killed by that electrical discharge, but sighed a sigh of relief when she felt his steady pulse.

They had been trapped inside that first barrier for several hours while Yugito and Gaara attempted several different jutsu at the barrier in an attempt to break it. After several hours, Yugito finally realized that the barrier was pulling more chakra into the area that they were attacking to strengthen that spot and after coming up with a quick plan she told her redheaded teammate about it.

Gaara launched several high powered air bullets at the same spot while also lashing it with his sand. When the barrier started pulling more chakra to that spot and away from others, Yugito cloaked her hand in lightning chakra and swiped at a pillar on the opposite side of where Gaara was attacking while shouting out the name of her jutsu.

"Lightning Release: Lightning Claw!" Yugito shouted out loud as her lightning cloak claws broke through the barrier and tore the obelisk to shreds. Within seconds the barrier field fell as the chakra sustaining it went away. Seeing as they knew that Naruto would live, that he was just unconscious at the moment, Gaara and Yugito sat down while they waited for their teammate to wake up.

Once they had broken the barrier, Yugito had sat down next to Naruto and laid his head in her lap as she held one of his hands. She knew that he was fine, but she was still scared. Anything could have happened and they were lucky that the only thing that happened was that he had lost consciousness. She was going to let the boy have it for scaring her like that.

Again her mind started wrapping itself around the emotions that the blond boy whose head was resting on her lap brought out in her. It was a myriad of emotions that was for sure. First there was the fact that she felt warm inside whenever she was around him. Then there was the fact that she wanted to protect him from every kind of harm that could ever affect him.

She just didn't believe that she could live if something ever happened to him. That thought made her think back to when the Leaf ninja had tried to take Naruto. She had been told that it hadn't been a normal Leaf unit. It had been a part of something known as ROOT. However, she didn't learn anything else about that unit after that.

Naruto's Mindscape

Naruto was lying on a grassy hill underneath a large orange tree. He took in a big breath as a large wind pushed past him and the other occupant of this particular grassy hill. He looked over to his right at the other occupant. It had been a while since he had changed his mindscape from that dreary sewer to what it was now.

He had been attempting to keep good on his promise to the fox and he had come back to his mindscape every once in a while after that incident with Danzo. When he came back the first time, he had thought about how he would always be cranky if he had to live down there so he asked the fox if there was any way he could change his mindscape.

To say the least the fox was surprised. He grumpily muttered how for the blond to do it and he had left after he heard the fox give a content sigh after lying down on a grassy hill underneath an orange tree. He had come back several times afterwards to talk to the fox and he normally didn't get any answers in reply but he figured that the fox must have enjoyed the company even if it wasn't going to show it. Sometimes he just came and gave it some companionable silent company.

He found that it was easiest to go to his mindscape when he was knocked out by someone or something, or asleep, and so he decided to go there when he was shocked into unconsciousness by the barrier. He had been healed by the fox upon entering his mindscape, and so he knew that he could wake up at any time, but he figured that there wasn't any hurry and that he could afford the time here.

Naruto stood up and walked over to the Kyubi and started to climb atop of it until he was sitting on its head that it was resting on its paws. Getting a grumpy growl in return for his climb, he put his hand to the Kyubi's ear and began scratching behind it and all of a sudden the Kyubi gave a content sigh and closed its eyes.

"That's what I thought. You have missed this haven't you?" Naruto said with a cocky grin on his face as he looked down at the fox. He had first done this on his fourth time to his mindscape after changing it to its current landscape, and after finding out how much the fox enjoyed it, he had gone on to do it almost every time afterwards.

After getting no reply in return, he stopped scratching, knowing exactly what would happen since they went through this routine every time he came here. The fox had an immense ego and was full of pride. It only took about ten seconds for the fox to get over his pride and admit that he had missed the ear scratching and Naruto continued scratching behind the fox's ear. Again the fox let out a content sigh.

Naruto knew that he hadn't gotten rid of the Kyubi's hate, but he also knew that there wasn't anything the fox could do to him in here so he saw no harm in trying to make the fox feel good. If anything it would eventually lead him closer to making the fox his friend.

Time Skip 6 Days Later

Naruto was laid up for a full six days before he had finally regained consciousness. To say that Yugito was worried would have been an understatement. She knew that he was alive, but she couldn't figure out why he wouldn't wake up and it was getting to her.

Yugito and Gaara had attempted to break down the outside barrier the same way they had the inside one, but they couldn't generate the needed power to do it. They tried channeling their tailed beasts' chakra, but it wasn't helping no matter how much the channeled. It seemed that tailed beast chakra couldn't break the barrier, only lightning chakra could.

Naruto finally woke up with his head on Yugito's lap. She had taken his scroll and unsealed everything and they had made a temporary camp site in the pedestal room. Yugito noticed his eyes open and started crying tears of relief that he had finally woken. Next she started chewing him out for doing stupid things without thinking about them.

When he found out that he had been out for six full days, the boy felt like banging his head on the temple floor. What had felt like a full day in his mindscape had turned out to be much more and he hated to think about the time that they had lost because of this. Naruto wasn't stupid enough to tell her that he had been in his mindscape the entire time.

He realized just how worried she must have been and knew that if she knew where he had been that she would not only get angrier than she already was for finding out that he had scared her for no reason, but that he had cost them such a large amount of time, said amount of time that might be needed to succeed in this mission. He knew how hard his blonde friend could hit when angered and he didn't feel like getting hurt for real.

After a small dinner and a quick stretch, they took Naruto to the outer barrier. "Wow!" Was the only word that came to mind when he looked at the larger barrier and saw the electricity arcing off of it. They didn't know how much chakra those things contained and they didn't know just how long they were going to have to stay there if they couldn't get it shut down and so Yugito told Naruto about how they got out of the smaller one.

Luckily they did have a pure shot at one of the obelisks, the only problem being that it was too close to where the other chakra would go if they tried to weaken a portion of the wall to draw chakra away from other portions. Thus they would only strengthen the barrier in front of the obelisk.

After thinking about what they could do for nearly thirty minutes, a light bulb went off in his head and he took a moment to consider it. The last time he had rushed to do something in this temple he had been out of it for a while. They had told him about how Yugito used lightning chakra to defeat the first barrier. They also told him about how her hand had been protected from the barrier when it was cloaked in lightning chakra.

He closed his eyes and started to picture lightning chakra enveloping his hand. He had to close his eyes because he was channeling more chakra than he had ever channeled before and he needed the concentration closing his eyes leant him. Once he believed that he had channeled enough chakra to beat the barrier in front of him, he started forward.

He walked up to the barrier and touched it with his cloaked hand. He met resistance, but this time he didn't get shocked so he took that as a good sign. Funneling even more lighting chakra to his hand, he watched as his hand finally broke the barrier and proceeded through to lightly brush the obelisk with his fingertips.

Naruto took a minute and decided on his next course of action. Naruto knew that he didn't have the reach with just his fist enveloped in chakra, so he decided to try and extend his range by allowing more of his arm to go through protected. Closing his eyes again, he funneled lightning chakra to his forearm. He had never channeled lightning chakra to his hand and arm at the same time before.

Yugito and Gaara watched with a shocked expression and an impassive expression, respectively, as Naruto channeled more lightning chakra to his hand and then to his forearm and launched himself at the barrier. Upon impact with the newly chakra restored barrier, his fist was halted for a second before he broke through again, and his fist connected with the obelisk and punched a large hole in the middle of it.

Naruto was pulling his fist out of the obelisk as the barrier began to fall down. He turned around to a shocked Yugito and a stoic gaara who was revealing none of his emotions. Smiling that trademark smile, Naruto went back to the pedestal room and went about sealing all of their equipment back up and the three of them left the second temple and headed East towards the third.

Time Skip Around Two Hours Later

It took them nearly two hours to get to the location where the third temple should be. There was only one problem, it wasn't there. They pulled there map out to check and make sure that they were in the correct location and sure enough they were, it just seemed that the temple wasn't. They decided that they would camp here for the night and set out in the morning to try and locate the obviously miss mapped temple.

After eating a quick meal of dried beef and celery sticks, Naruto and Yugito retired for the night. After a full night's rest, the three of them got up and ate a quick breakfast before sealing everything away again. Taking the map out again, the three of them looked at it one last time to make sure that they were in the spot marked on the map.

Nothing had changed from the other night and the three of them were about to set out when a wind blew in their direction, picking up a bit of loose dirt and throwing it in their face and to the area behind them. Naruto was the only one looking behind them when this happened, so he was the only one to see the dirt stick to the surface of something and not go any further, even though the wind was still blowing.

"Of course, genjutsu, how could we have been so blind?" Naruto said out loud as he placed his hand in the ram seal.

"Kai." Naruto said as he pulsed his chakra, fluctuating it and finally revealing what they had been looking for and had been unable to see. Seeing his expression lighten and the grin break out on his face, his two teammates followed suit and couldn't help themselves but start to chuckle a little as well.

In front of them stood the third temple and as the first two had been surrounded by obelisks that created ninjutsu, this one was surrounded by obelisks that it seemed created genjutsu. Walking forward and jumping up to the terrace on the second floor, the three jinchuriki set forth and started down what was the normal path to the pedestal room that all the temples had shared.

Only, it seemed that the pedestal room wasn't at the same location that the others had been located at. Stopping in the room where they had found the last two pedestals, they waited while Gaara sent his sand out to find the scroll. Ten minutes later Gaara was stumped. His sand had found no room with a pedestal and scroll.

All of a sudden Naruto slapped his forehead with his palm and commented on his own stupidity. He couldn't believe that he had already forgotten the fact that the outer defenses had already been active, unlike the first two temples. So what would stop the inner defenses from being already active? Placing his hands in the ram seal, he pulsed his chakra again to fluctuate its current and suddenly the pedestal with the scroll, surrounded by four obelisks was revealed to the young blond jinchuriki.

Not even giving his teammates a chance to follow his example, the young blond jinchuriki strode up to the pedestal and removed the scroll. He realized that this temple was different in security than the others, that the security was active before they got the scroll and so he figured that he didn't have to worry about anything happening once he picked the scroll up.

Luckily, he was correct and he placed the third scroll on his back and started to walk back the way they had come. The three of them made it back to the terrace and jumped down. Not being assaulted by the obelisks, the three set out in the direction they had come, and started back towards the peak that they had set out from a little over a week earlier.

Time Skip One Day Later

The three jinchuriki were standing in front of A and Bee in the raikage's office and they were all beaming with pride. They had just been told that they had narrowly beaten the last set record and were congratulated for their excellent team work. They were given a week off and then they were to do their next teamwork mission.

The three jinchuriki left wearing large smiles and went to celebrate their accomplishment. They had asked whose team it was that had set the last record and they found out that it had been set by Darui's genin team that had consisted of him, C, and two other Kumokagure ninja.

Time Skip Around A Month Later

Naruto, Gaara, and Yugito were all three looking at the masks that Bee had handed to each of them. They had finished their third teamwork training mission almost a week ago and they were about to set out on their first C rank mission. Naruto thought back to the mission briefing. They were going to travel to the Land of Waves and collect payment on supplies that they had sold to a rebel team that was attempting to overthrow a corrupt businessman.

They had been briefed on the businessman, a person whom Naruto had described eloquently after reading the dossier as a low life thug with a large bank account. They were briefed on his illegal dealings and his resources. The types of illegal businesses that the man was involved in made them sick.

After they had been briefed, Naruto asked A the question that was on his, Gaara's, and Yugito's minds. He had asked if there were possibly any secondary parameters to their mission that would involve the death of a low life thug with a large bank account. They all thought that the man deserved to die for what he had done.

A had looked at the squad for a few seconds and then he shuffled through some papers on his desk before coming across a book. He tossed the book to Naruto and told him to flip to page eight. The boy had flipped to the said page and found himself looking at am image of Gato with a bounty posted over the image.

The bounty was for one million ryo, a large sum considering he wasn't a shinobi. They figured that they weren't the only ones that thought the man deserved to die. A had told the jinchuriki squad that if they had the opportunity, that they should either capture or kill Gato and bring back his body as proof and that they could collect the bounty on his head.

He then told everyone that they would have to wear masks while on this particular mission and when they all asked, A answered by asking them what countries they were going to be going through to get to the Land of Waves.

Naruto had caught on to what A had been thinking instantly. He realized that no matter what path they chose to take, they would have to pass through the Land of Fire to get there. Kumogakure wasn't exactly on speaking terms with Konoha and it would only become worse if they realized that Naruto was a Kumo ninja.

Shaking himself from his thoughts, Naruto started to laugh as they each put on their respective masks. Bee, in his infinite bad humor, had decided that he would special order the masks. He had given Yugito a blue cat mask. He had given Gaara a tan raccoon mask. Naruto got a red fox mask. He had gotten himself a pink bovine mask.

Naruto was still chuckling about the masks as they headed out of the gates and started down the mountains on their way to the Land of Waves. Naruto suddenly stopped chuckling as he remembered where they were going and he couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive about the future. He just hoped that they didn't run into any Konoha shinobi while on their way to the Land of Waves. Little did he know that he wasn't going to be so lucky.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

"You know, after having to dodge all of those Konoha scouts, I figured this part of the mission would be a cinch." Naruto said with his hands behind his neck as he stared across the ocean to the Land of Waves.

When they had descended into the Land of Fire to get to the Land of Waves, they had to either pass close between Konoha and the Capital of the Land of Fire, or they had to side track a good long way to avoid those two areas. In the end, they had decided to pass between the two places, and hope to avoid detection.

In the regards of avoiding detection, they succeeded splendidly; however it came at the cost of a very slow moving pace as they had to continually hide themselves and cover all their tracks to avoid said detection. Naruto couldn't count on both hands how many times they had narrowly avoided being detected by scouting parties.

So when Naruto thought back to what they had done to get this far, he was unpleasantly surprised to find that it was going to be more troublesome than he had originally thought to get across the ocean to the islands of the Land of Waves.

"How the hell are we supposed to get across there? I mean, I pride myself in being an awesome super ninja and all, but I can't exactly walk on water here." Naruto said as he brought one hand down to point to the island that was largely obscured by mist and that they could barely make out in the distance.

There were nearly ten large ships that they could see through the mist on the horizon that were enforcing the embargo that Gato had set upon the island. Since they could barely see these ships, there was a large possibility that there were more hidden in the mist that they couldn't see.

Chuckling at Naruto's antics as he pointed out the obvious problem that they had occurred, Bee thought about what they should do. He could always transform himself partly to be able to swim easily and allow the three genin to ride on him, but he didn't like the idea of one of those boats getting anywhere near them and seeing a partial octopus.

However, before he could think too much on the subject, his attention was grabbed by Gaara putting his hands on the ground and starting to channel chakra into it. He realized that Gaara was turning the earth around him into sand, but for what he didn't know yet. After all, the boy was steadily learning new ways to utilize sand all of the time.

After a few minutes, Gaara stood back up and folded his arms in front of his chest again. A few seconds after that, the earth around his feet started to rumble and from it rose a wave of sand. The boy formed the sand into a large platform and jumped on it, only to look back at his teammates and raise an eyebrow.

"Oh hell no, if you think that we're going to fly over there, you got another thing coming Gaara. I still remember what you did last time you lifted me in the air with your sand, and this time we'll be over the ocean." Naruto said while he shook his head at his redheaded teammate.

Gaara however just remained silent and his reason for doing so revealed itself not long after as Naruto gave out a shout as he was lifted into the air and flipped upside down by sand that was curled around his right ankle.

"Damn it Gaara, I told you not to do this to my anymore." Naruto yelled out from his dangling position and missed Bee and Yugito chuckling at his expense.

Gaara lifted him up via the sand and deposited him on the platform, however to make sure he didn't try to jump away, he kept the sand attacked to the blond boy's leg. He figured he'd release him once they were on their way and he couldn't get down from the platform.

Bee and Yugito swiftly jumped up onto the platform and Gaara directed the sand to head out towards the island while staying low to the ocean so that the mist blocked them from the ships view. However, they ended up having to change direction suddenly quite a few times to avoid detection as they spotted small craft riding the waves of the ocean back and forth from the Land of Waves and the Land of Fire.

After about thirty minutes of flight they finally reached the island. Within seconds of passing over the beach Naruto jumped off of the platform and fell the remaining five feet from the sand platform to land safely upon the dry ground. Looking back up at the sand platform, he glared at Gaara as it settled down and dispersed.

The four of them set off towards the village with Naruto glaring a hole in the back of Gaara's head. In retaliation, Gaara formed an eye of sand and started mock glaring at Naruto with it. Bee and Yugito watched their two teammate's antics and had to stop themselves from laughing. They didn't want to have Naruto's ire directed on to them.

After about fifteen minutes of walking and glaring, the four jinchuriki finally came upon the scene of what appeared to be a huge battle. There were trees everywhere that were uprooted and tossed around. Through the path of destruction, there was a very long groove in the ground that led towards a very thick tree. Kunai and shuriken were scattered all throughout the area.

"Wow." Naruto, Gaara, and Yugito all three said at the same time as they saw the long groove that had been taken out of the ground and all of the trees that had obviously been uprooted from that spot as well. Bee was looking at the ground and the surrounding area as he tried to speculate upon what had occurred here. Bee realized that the fight must have been nearly two weeks old.

After taking a few more minutes to look around the area, the four of them started off again towards the village, more wary of their surroundings this time though. It took them around another thirty minutes to make it to the village and what they saw completely disgusted them. The level of squalor around them was immense.

"So this is what that Gato man is doing to this area. Well, it is a done deal, that man is as good as dead." Naruto mumbled to himself only loud enough for his companions to hear him as they walked through the streets on their way towards the home of the man that they were searching for.

It had taken them nearly an hour before they finally walked upon the door step of the rebel leader that they had been sent here to collect payment from. The only problem was that the door to the person's house was hanging off of its hinges.

Naruto pulled out his chakra blades and Bee unsheathed two of his blades. The four of silently slipped into the house and upon entering reflexively placed their hands upon their ears to block out the scream that a woman inside had let out upon seeing the four of them.

"Calm down pretty lady, you're hurting my very sensitive ears." Naruto shouted at the woman whom stopped shrieking upon hearing the boy's young voice. Naruto and Bee put their weapons away and Bee took a step forward and bowed while expressing the fact that they meant her no harm.

"The four of us are Kumogakure ninja. We're here to talk to an old man named Tazuna." Bee rapped, while pulling out his Kumogakure hitai-ate so that she could see it.

"His letter told us to meet him here, so that we could get our money for the gear." Bee continued before feeling three glares burning holes into the back of his head.

"Oh my goodness, you all nearly gave me a heart attack." Tsunami said to the four of them after she finally took note of the kumo hitai-ate that Bee held within his hand.

"Is Tazuna here?" Naruto said as he looked around the trashed house. It looked like someone had come through here with a sword and chopped a whole lot of things to pieces.

"No, he's down at the bridge, but I think that he might be in trouble. Two of Gato's thugs attacked me here, and I'm only safe now because of one of the Konoha ninja that Tazuna hired to help guard him and the bridge until it was finished. The thugs said that the bridge was going to be attacked today though." Tsunami said completely missing Naruto flinching at the name of Konoha.

"Well, the Konoha ninja should be able to protect him, but we should probably go there just in case." Bee said as he turned to look at Naruto and try to judge how he was handling this news. They were going to have to be around Konoha ninja to collect their money and he knew that Naruto wasn't too fond of the idea.

"We'll make sure he's okay pretty lady." Naruto said with a hint of determination in his voice. Even if they had to interact with Konoha ninja, they had a mission to do, and if the man died he couldn't exactly pay them.

After bowing in her direction again and once again assuring that they would make sure Tazuna remained safe, the four jinchuriki left the house and left upon the path that she had described that led to the bridge.

It took them nearly an hour to reach the site of the bridge and once they made it there, they could tell from their place in the shadows of one of the cranes that it the battle wasn't in full swing yet. They took a moment to try and see all of the combatants and judge what exactly was happening.

What they saw was what looked like two different battles going on at the same time. It was hard to pierce the mist with their eyes in certain areas, but they could clearly see the two areas of the battle and in one they could see a large dome like structure that looked like it was made of ice.

Inside the structure they could barely see a person on the ground that was being struck continuously by a barrage of weapons. They could partially see another person's hand as it threw the weapons at the person on the ground. Other than that little bit, they couldn't tell anything else about that particular battle scene.

Across the way, they could see a silver haired man whose hair stood at a gravity defying height. He wore a blue suit with a green flak jacket and he had a grey mask over his face. They could see that his hitai-ate rested over his left eye.

This man stood in front of a very tall man whom appeared to have no eyebrows that they could see and whose neck and face were covered in white bandages. The man had the largest sword any of them had ever seen on his back. This man wore a sleeveless black shirt and black pants and his hitai-ate was turned to the side of his head.

Behind the white haired man stood a pink haired girl in a red dress that had splits on each side running up to her thighs. Behind this girl stood a tall and muscular tanned man whom looked like the description of Tazuna that the Raikage had given them.

The pink haired girl suddenly sprinted forward and threw a kunai towards the ice structure and out of one of the slabs of ice a person materialized and plucked the kunai out of the air. The pink haired girl seemed so shocked that the ninja had caught the blade before it had gotten inside the structure.

All of a sudden a shuriken came flying out of nowhere and slammed into the ninja's mask that they could all see now that the ninja was facing away from the structure was a Kirigakure Hunter-nin mask and knocked her completely out of the slab of ice and the ninja fell to the ground. The hunter-nin stood up and spoke in a low voice.

"Number one, hyperactive, knucklehead ninja." Came the soft hunter-nin's voice.

The pink haired girl face palmed when a huge cloud of smoke appeared and from within the smoke came a loud and brash voice.

"Sora Sarutobi is here, believe it."

* * *

Batter's up. How many of you liked the curve ball. Please tell me in a review. I apologize that it took me this long to get this out. I hope that you all aren't too mad at me for posting that fake chapter 11. I needed to try and get people to read my other story, and for some reason, nobody was reading it. That seemed like one hell of a way to get others to see that I had a new story out. Anyways, please don't be mad at me. I don't know if I could take it. It might make me cry. Ah, who am I kidding. It won't make me cry, but it might make it to where i can't sleep at night. Maybe, maybe not. Who knows. I don't know. Do you know? Anyways, I digress. Thank you for reading and waiting patiently for this chapter. Thanks also to all of you who read my other story, regardless of whether you liked it or not. If you are for some reason just now learning that I have a new story out, go by my stories page and check it out. Remember to review about this story and tell me what you think. Till next time.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Land of Waves – Southern Bridge Half – Sora and Haku

"Sora Sarutobi is here, believe it." Came the voice of a boy whom was just now becoming visible from within the smoke that he had appeared within.

Sora had bluish grey hair that reached to his shoulders with a single lock cascading over one of his brilliantly shining brown eyes. He wore a robe of pure black with a white sash around his waist. He wore his Konoha hitai-ate proudly upon his forehead.

In each of his hands he carried a claw shaped weapon with three separate claws. The weapons wrapped around his knuckles like brass knuckles and the blades extended about a foot in length. He lifted his right claw and pointed it directly at Haku.

"You know, me and old duck butt over there might not get along too well, but he is still a ninja of Konoha. He is my teammate, and so I can't let you hurt him like you are doing." Sora said as he placed his arms in front of his chest in an x shape.

"I made a vow to protect all of my comrades, all of my teammates, all of my precious people, and you are not going to take them away from me!" Sora said before charging chakra to his clawed weapons, throwing his arms out to each side and rushing at Haku with a feral growl.

Sora rushed straight at the masked ninja and swiped at Haku with one of his clawed weapons, only to have it blocked by a senbon. Sora quickly swiped with his other clawed weapon and had it blocked with a senbon as well.

"Please give up now, I do not want to have to kill you." Came Haku's soft voice.

"Well, I want to kill you, so I'm gonna have to say no to that." Sora's cocky voice answered as he disengaged and came back in with two more swipes only to have them again blocked by the senbon in Haku's hands.

"If you will not give up, then so be it. I am sorry, but I am Zabuza's tool and you are in the way of his dream. You will kill to protect your precious people, and I will kill to protect Zabuza's dream." Came that ever soft voice that belied just how much skill its owner possessed.

Quickly grabbing both of Sora's wrists with his left hand, Haku began making one handed seals before saying the jutsu's name in that soft voice.

"Secret Technique: Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death."

Suddenly the air around the two was filled with thousands of water senbon. Haku released Sora's wrists and launched himself into the air and jumped to safety. Sora was so shocked that he didn't have time to try and jump away as well and the senbon were suddenly launched at him.

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!" Came a calm voice as wind rushed all around Sora and obliterated the senbon in the air that were launched at him.

Suddenly, Naruto appeared in front of a kneeling Sora who had been pushed to his knees by the force of the winds that Naruto had created. From behind his mask, no one could tell it, but Naruto was frowning in the Haku's direction.

"Wow, he is fast." Naruto thought to himself about how fast that Haku had made those one handed seals and how fast he had jumped away from that area to avoid his own barrage of water senbon.

"I understand the drive to protect those close to you, believe me I do. However, what in the hell were you thinking just coming directly at that ninja with only those blades?" Naruto said to Sora as he started to stand up.

"You know, I don't know who the hell you think you are, but you have no place to be trying to give me advice." Sora angrily said as he pointed his clawed weapon at Naruto's back, angry that he had been put in a position that he had to have a stranger save him.

"I don't care what you think I have the right to do or not. I just saved your ass, so I am pretty sure that gives me the right to ask you what the hell you were thinking." Naruto said while thinking about what he should do next.

"However, in complete honesty, I guess I really don't care what you were thinking. I honestly don't even know why I saved your sorry skin." Naruto said to Sora while keeping a wary eye on the masked ninja who hadn't moved a muscle since he had appeared in front of Sora.

"I'll say this though, just stay out of our way." Naruto said as he bit his thumb and swiped his blood across his palm before flipping his hand through some hand seals.

"Summoning Jutsu!" Naruto shouted as he slapped his palm on the ground and the area around them erupted in smoke.

Once the smoke cleared, Sora was gaping at two large panthers that stood on each side of the ninja that had saved him. Naruto and his panther summons started channeling lightning chakra to their feet and Naruto pulled his chakra blades out of their ankle holsters.

He placed fingers in the appropriate holes and started channeling wind chakra to the blades. Then he and his two panther summons disappeared in a static blur, their speed greatly enhanced by the lightning chakra channeled to their feet and they reappeared within seconds right in front of Haku.

"Hey masked ninja dude, say hello to the fury twins!" Naruto shouted as he and his panther summons attacked.

Land of Waves – Bridge Shadows – Bee, Yugito, and Gaara

Yugito had been about to jump out after her blond teammate and start berating him for doing something so rash, but she stopped herself when Bee placed his hand upon her shoulder. Without taking his eyes off of his blond student, Bee told his other two students that they were going to wait while he made a decision on what he wanted them to all do.

They watched and listened as Naruto exchanged some words with the boy he had just saved, and then bit his thumb. They all three knew what he was going to do when he had bit his thumb, and so they all whispered under their breath the name of the jutsu. The boy loved working with his panther summons.

They watched as he grabbed his chakra blades and put his fingers in the slots before starting to channel chakra to them. They watched as Naruto and his panther summons charged at Haku in a three pronged attack. Each of the panthers moved quicker than Naruto, and circled around Haku to attack from his sides while Naruto came straight at him.

All of a sudden they heard a clash of metal that came from the other part of the bridge and turned to see the gravity defying haired ninja wielding a kunai and blocking the humongous blade that the other ninja was swinging with amazing speed and strength. Zabuza had tried to come to Haku's defense, but Kakashi had decided to keep him from getting there and backing up his teammate, effectively giving the new ninja a chance to take him out.

Bee and his two students just sat back and watched as the fights began to escalate, waiting to see if they would be needed. He had decided that they wouldn't reveal themselves, unless they needed to save either Naruto or the Konoha ninja.

Although, he should have remembered that his students were brash and that they weren't going to sit still for long. So when they jumped out to help Kakashi quickly finish his opponent off, he wasn't really that surpised. He just sighed in a defeated manner before going back to observe both battles. He might very well be needed to jump in at a moment's notice to save one of his students.

Land of Waves – Northern Bridge Half – Kakashi and Zabuza

Zabuza had watched the fight between Haku and Sasuke with a wild smile on his face. Either Kakashi went to help his student fight or he protected the bridge builder, but he couldn't do both and he knew it.

Then that bluish grey haired punk showed up and he had to stop himself from laughing maniacally at the entire scene. His little Haku was going to make short work of that one as well, and he watched with glee on his face as Kakashi's face became ashen when Haku began to perform one of his secret techniques.

That was when things started to go to hell. He watched as a violent wind obliterated the water senbon and then as a masked ninja appeared in front of the Konoha ninja. He watched as the boy bit his thumb and swiped blood across his palm and summoned two large panthers. That was when he had decided to go and help Haku.

However, Kakashi had decided to keep him from going to help Haku, and had rushed to intercept him. Zabuza had unsheathed his blade and swung with surprising speed and strength at Kakashi and was shocked when he was able to block his swings with a kunai.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the ninja pull chakra blades out of ankle holsters and he watched as the ninja and his panthers all charged at Haku, their speed accelerated greatly by lightning chakra being channeled to their feet. However, that was all he was able to see as Kakashi decided to attack and he was forced to stab his blade into the ground and block the attack with the flat side of his blade.

He had blocked the kunai thrust with the flat side of his blade, and he was about to pull the blade back and swing it around for a horizontal swing when he had to let his blade go and jump back suddenly to avoid an unpleasant death caused by a kunai entering his heart. Kakashi had channeled lightning chakra to the kunai that he had attacked with, and it had gone straight through Zabuza's blade like it was butter.

Zabuza started flipping through hand seals while he was in the air and he was almost finished when his feet touched the bridge again. The only problem was that the bridge wasn't the only thing his feet had hit. Zabuza lost his concentration as he slipped and fell back on his butt.

"Sand, where the fuck did this sand come from?" Zabuza thought as he looked at the brown material that he had slipped on when he landed.

Before he could figure out the answer to his silent question, his line of thought was quickly interrupted as he quickly rolled away from two swipes of what looked like claws made out of lightning. However, he wasn't fast enough and he was rewarded with a gouge from each arm and a jolt of electricity that left both arms numb and completely useless, lying limp at his side as blood flowed freely down his forearms.

Jumping to his feet, he quickly realized that there wasn't a chance in hell that he was going to win this fight. Not only did he have to fight Kakashi, but now he saw two masked ninja standing in front of the Konoha ninja. Figuring that he would probably have live to fight another day, the cogs in Zabuza's mind got to work on a way out of the mess he currently found himself in.

"Not that I needed the help or anything, but I appreciate you three lending a hand." Kakashi said with a crinkled eye smile.

He was glad that these masked ninja, whoever they were, had showed up. He really didn't need any help taking Zabuza out, but the other masked ninja that had showed up had saved his student where he wasn't able to, and that was the reason that he was so grateful. He had been about to be forced to watch two of his students get slaughtered and there wasn't a thing he could do about it.

"Well, we're glad that we could assist you." Yugito said with a feral grin behind her mask that no one could see.

"Sorry to cut your little thanksgiving short, but I do believe that it is time for me to make my exit, so see you later!" Zabuza said as he finally decided that the only viable option he had remaining was to escape, no theatrics or deceptions, just a pure mad dash away from this area.

"Gaara, now!" Yugito shouted to her teammate before Zabuza could try and escape.

"Shit!" Zabuza said as he tried to spin around and starting running to escape but found his feet firmly stuck to the bridge with sand wrapped around his feet and slowly rising up his legs.

"Well, we're both busy people Zabuza, why don't you say we put an end to this here and now." Kakashi said as he wrapped his left palm around the hilt of Zabuza's blade. Lifting it out of the bridge with ease, Kakashi dashed forward while dragging the blade through the bridge behind him. Kakashi marked the path he took towards Zabuza with an inch wide trench caused by the blade cutting the bridge like butter.

"Die Zabuza Momochi!" Kakashi yelled as he sprinted towards his restrained target, intent on cutting him in two.

* * *

Okay, so I apologize that it took so long to get this chapter out. I just started the fall semester of college and I had to put this on the back burner for a little while. However, have no fear because I am back and I plan to write with a fury. But who knows, I might just take a little break. I don't know. Do you know? I digress, so thanks for reading and reviewing on the previous chapters, and remember to review on this one and tell me what you think about it. You know, it is really difficult to write the Wave Arc, I truly hate it. Anyways, I still haven't decided on how the chunin exams arc is going to go. I might do it in Konoha, I might not. I might not even do it all together. However, I will say this to all of you. If I do the exams in Konoha, there will not be an invasion. Think about it logically, the way I did my story, the only options would be: A. Otagakure attack alone and that would just be pure embarrassing. They would fail so fast, it would be pitiful. B. would include minor nations like Taki, Ame, and others teaming with Otagakure and even though that would be possible, I am going to pull a Shikamaru and say it would be just too damn troublesome. C. would be Iwagakure teaming with Otagakure, and I just don't see that happening in any realm of possibility. Old Onoki would never team up with that snake, even if it were to destroy Konoha, it just wouldn't happen. So I hope that answers the questions that some of you left. Anyhow, thanks again and remember to review.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Land of Waves – Southern Bridge Half – Naruto and Haku

"Hey masked ninja dude, say hello to the fury twins!" Naruto shouted as he and his panther summons launched their three pronged attack.

His two panther summonses were quicker than him, so they reached Haku first. They each took swipes at Haku, each being dodged with fluid grace. Then Naruto appeared a second later and slashed with his two chakra blades, only to have a flicker of shock cross his face as Haku blocked his attacks with the senbon in his hand.

He had expected for the chakra blades to slice right through the senbon since he was channeling wind chakra to his blades, but that wasn't the case, and he had to jump back to avoid a quick thrust that Haku sent towards his gut.

While he was jumping back, his two panther summons snapped at Haku's legs, but the masked ninja easily avoided their snapping jaws with a languid and fluid grace. Spinning on his left heel, Haku twisted away before letting the two senbon in his hands fly at the panthers. However, Naruto appeared in front of his summons and deflected the two senbon with his chakra blades.

Quicker than Naruto's eyes could follow, Haku plunged his hands into two pouches and pulled out six senbon, three in between each knuckle. Haku placed his arms in front of his chest in an x shape before jumping in to the air and thrusting his arms out and releasing the senbon, each senbon glinting dangerously with a near invisible layer of wind chakra.

Quickly setting his hand into the bird hand seal, Naruto took a deep breath and mixt his wind chakra with the air in his lungs, before exhaling six air bullets, one for each of the senbon. His bullets were dead on and they blew the senbon away.

Haku was starting to get nervous now. His ice prison had been up for a little while now, and it was continuously draining his chakra. He had to figure out a way to get the boy masked ninja in front of him into the construct, because he knew that he didn't have the chakra to build another one around him.

However, before he could give too much thought to how he was going to lure the ninja into the construct, a scream rent the air. This scream was one of grief and rage. Naruto and Haku both looked over towards where the scream had come from and they saw Sora kneeling beside Sasuke inside the construct. He was cradling the other boy in his lap and his head was thrown back as he let sound to his emotions.

Land of Waves – Southern Bridge Half – Sora – A Few Moments Ago

Sora watched with rapt attention as the masked ninja that had saved his life and the panthers that he had summoned vanished from his view in a startling display of speed and then reappeared attacking the other masked ninja in a three pronged attack formation.

He watched as the panthers snapped at the masked ninja and as the masked ninja fluidly dodged their attacks. He then saw the masked ninja block the chakra blades with a pair of senbon before dodging the panther's next attacks.

He watched as the masked ninja through his senbon at the panthers after jumping away from them. His eyes flew open wide when the other ninja appeared in front of his summons and blocked the senbon. While the masked ninja gathered more senbon, he was finally able to gather his wits about himself and he looked towards his teammate that was trapped inside the construct.

Quickly jumping to his feet, he rushed inside the construct and quickly knelt by his teammate's side. He was worried for him when he saw all of the senbon sticking out of his body like a pincushion, and he grew deathly still before crying out in anguish and rage when he tried to feel for a pulse, but didn't find one.

That masked ninja had killed his teammate, his companion, and his fellow ninja. He hadn't been able to protect him, and it made him so angry. He had never felt this angry before in his life. All he wanted to do was crush that masked ninja's face. He wanted to slash into his body with his claws.

As he thought of all of the things that he wanted to do to the masked ninja that had killed Sasuke, he didn't even notice as a red ring of visible chakra formed around him in a perfect circle. It quickly coalesced around his body and his features became more animal.

His canines elongated into fangs. His right hand started to grow scales and his fingernails turned into claws. He lowered his head back down and looked straight at the man that he now wanted to kill with every fiber of his body. As his eyes rested upon Haku's eyes, his eyes became crimson with slits for pupils.

He crouched down and suddenly a tail of the red chakra sprouted from his tailbone. His anger and bloodlust just continued to grow, and a second and third tail soon followed the first one. A fourth tail started to grow from his tailbone. However, before it could completely grow, a flash of red appeared in front of him and he felt a deep and searing pain on his stomach before everything went dark and he fell into unconsciousness.

Land of Waves – Southern Bridge Half – Naruto

"This chakra, it feels exactly like the Kyubi's." Naruto whispered out loud as he stared at the boy inside the ice construct as he started to transform right before their eyes.

Suddenly, Naruto groaned out loud in pain as red chakra started to envelop his own body. It took a moment to break out of the surprise that gripped him by the Kyubi's chakra surfacing without him summoning. By the time that he came to his senses, he was already sporting one tail.

Thinking quickly, he tried to figure out why the chakra was reacting the way it was, and as Sora's second tail appeared, his did too. Widening his eyes in shock and fear, he realized that Sora's chakra was somehow making his react and he tried pushing his back in.

However, it wouldn't stop leaking out and he watched with mounting fear as his fingernails turned into claws and his canines elongated inside of his mouth. He looked back to Sora and saw his third tail starting to sprout, and suddenly an idea popped into his head.

Quickly gathering chakra to his fingers, the chakra took on the form of the kanji's of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. He vanished for a moment before reappearing in front of Sora and he thrust his hand at the boy's stomach before he could react.

"Fuinjutsu: Five Pronged Seal!" Naruto roared as his palm made contact with Sora's stomach.

All of a sudden, Sora fell forward and Naruto caught him before he hit the ground. The chakra surrounding Sora dissipated and Naruto laid him down next to Sasuke. Taking a moment, Naruto finally succeeded in pushing his own Kyubi chakra back into its seal and the chakra around his body dissipated as well.

Suddenly, Naruto felt an intense pain in his right calf, and in the time it took to look down, he felt the same pain in his left shoulder and in his right arm. From each of those places, a senbon was protruding. He turned around and looked in the direction that the senbon had come from and then he felt another pain in his left calf and his right arm.

Quickly turning around again, he caught a brief glimpse of something flitting through the ice slabs that made up the construct around him, before he felt a couple more hit several places on his body. The speed that they were being rained down upon him were just too fast, and before he even figured out where they were thrown from, he was hit with more from an entirely different location.

Within ten seconds, he was sporting about twenty senbon from different spots on his body and he knew that whoever was throwing them was targeting his nerve clusters, because he could no longer feel his left leg or his right arm. He was suddenly regretting releasing the Kyubi's chakra as he felt one of the senbon pierce his neck and everything went black as he lost consciousness.

Land of Waves – Northern Bridge Half – Kakashi, Garra, Yugito, and Zabuza

"Die Zabuza Momochi!" Kakashi yelled as he sprinted towards his restrained target, intent on cutting him in two.

He was only a few paces away from killing the demon of the mist when everything suddenly went to hell. First they heard the blood curdling scream that escaped Sora's throat. Everybody sensed it at the same time, and the only one who didn't know what it was happened to be Zabuza. The moment that they all felt the intense and powerful chakra of the Kyubi, several things happened.

First, Gaara and Yugito both instantly turned to look in the direction of their teammate and because of this, Gaara lost his control on the sand that was holding Zabuza rooted to the spot. Second, Kakashi falthered in his step and he too turned to look in the direction of his student and the other masked ninja.

Gaara and Yugito were expecting to see Naruto in trouble and having to use the Kyubi's chakra and Kakashi was expecting to see Sora in trouble and using the Kyubi's chakra. However, they were all surprised at what they saw. Both Naruto and Sora were using the Kyubi's chakra.

Zabuza felt his eyes widen at the power that he felt hit the air and then he looked in the direction that he felt it in and what he saw made his stomach flip. Two of those boys were letting off visible red chakra. Being one of the former seven ninja swordsmen of the mist, he knew what jinchuriki were and he was feeling a sense of complete dread at the sight in front of him.

Suddenly, he felt the sand around his legs loosen and he took the only chance that he was going to get to jump away. Not wasting a single second, Zabuza sprinted away and was quickly swallowed by the thick mist.

Kakashi, Gaara, and Yugito were both rooted to the ground at the sight in front of them. So enthralled by what they were seeing, they didn't even notice Zabuza's abrupt escape. Finally, something clicked inside Kakashi's head as he realized that there were only two people that he knew of that contained that chakra.

"Naruto." Came the soft whisper that left Kakashi's lips.

His shock at finding his teacher's son here of all places, was more than enough to make him forget about his students for a few seconds, that is until he noticed that the power those two were exuding was still growing.

He watched as they both sprouted two tails and then a third tail. He realized that if they didn't do something soon, those two might just lose complete control and that was something that he needed to avoid at all costs.

However, before he could even react to all that was happening in front of him, he saw Naruto forming chakra around his fingers and suddenly the boy streaked forward, the only thing allowing him to keep track of his movements being the spinning sharingan. He watched as Naruto struck his student in the stomach and he faintly heard the name of the jutsu he just used.

To say that he was surprised that a boy 12 years old could use the Five Pronged Seal Technique would have been understating what he felt at the moment. Putting it out of his mind when he saw the chakra dissipate from his student, he watched with relief as the chakra around Naruto dissipated as well.

Then they all saw the masked ninja leap forward and melt into one of the ice slabs. They could barely make it out, but they all saw Naruto stagger and turn one direction before staggering in another direction. This continued for nearly ten seconds before they saw him topple over and he was still.

Before he could even act, Yugito and Gaara began channeling their own tailed beast's chakra and they both started rushed forward. Within seconds, the two of them had bridged the gap between themselves and the construct, but they were too late. Haku had formed several ice slabs in midair heading in the direction that Zabuza had fled and slipped into the first one.

As fast as they formed, another would form farther away and the ones that had already been formed would melt away. Within seconds Haku was gone. Gaara and Yugito both knelt at Naruto's prone form and suddenly another ninja was next to them.

Kakashi watched as Sakura ran over to her two fallen teammates and he walked over to Tazuna, keeping his eyes peeled for any threat. They still had a mission and it wouldn't do for them to screw up at a time like this. He took the time it took to walk over to his students to think about all that had happened in the last few minutes.

He was trying to think about what he should do. He knew that there was no way in hell he would be able to take Naruto away from whoever these people were, but that certainly didn't stop him from entertaining the idea for a moment. Even if he would be just taking his body back since it appeared that he had been killed by that masked ninja.

However, he found out that Naruto wasn't dead at all, and it seemed neither was Sasuke. The adult masked ninja that carried seven blades it seemed knew how to use diagnostic medical jutsu and had found that the senbon had only knocked them out. It seemed that the masked ninja didn't have the stomach to kill any of them.

After checking up on his students himself, he went over to stand by the three masked ninja that were crouched by Naruto's prone form as the adult applied what limited medical jutsu he knew to try and wake the boy up. Deciding that it would be for the best to remain quiet about what he knew, he thanked them again for their help.

Not getting any replies to his thanks, he went over to Sasuke and Sora and picked them up and held them to his chest as he walked towards Tazuna and Sakura. Quickly, he told them it was best for them to leave and the five of them took their leave of the bridge. Out of the three conscious jinchuriki, Bee was the only one to notice the Konoha ninja and Tazuna leave.

* * *

So, here is the next chapter. Thanks for reading the last chapter and reviewing to those of you who did. At the moment, I figured Kakashi would be too shocked to do much of anything about this stunning development, so that will unfold in the next chapter. There will be a confrontation between Kakashi and Bee, entirely verbal and not physical. Also, you'll notice that in this Wave Arc, it appears that Zabuza and Haku both escape with their lives. They will come back later on in the story, however, I am not going to tell you if they are going to be enemies or allies of our Jinchuriki squad. Suspense. Let it invigorate your lives. Or not, whatever you choose to do. Remember to review and I will see you next time. Or will I. Who knows? I don't know. Do you know? Now then, I am going to finish this bag of Doritos in my lap and the can of mountain dew in my cup holder. Depending on when you read this and where you live, good morning, good afternoon, good evening, or good night, which ever one applies to you.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Naruto's Mindscape

When he had lost consciousness, he had decided to go to his mindscape and hang out with his personal big fuzzy fox. Granted, he never described the Kyubi as such in front of him, because he didn't want to lose any of the progress he had made towards endearing himself towards the fox by making poor jokes.

So he had come and laid down under the orange tree in his mindscape, and he sat next to the Kyubi as the Kyubi took another one of its never ending naps. He was wondering to himself whether it was just his tenant, or if all of the tailed beasts took as many naps as the Kyubi.

"What is that delicious smell?" Naruto thought to himself.

After several hours of lying under the orange tree, a new scent started to permeate the air. It took him a few minutes to figure out what it was, but when he did, he quickly said his goodbyes to a sleeping fox and left his mindscape behind.

Land of Waves – Tazuna's House – A day after the battle at the bridge

"Aw, you didn't have to make me some ramen, but I appreciate it all the same." Naruto said with a smile as he looked up at the face of his best friend, Yugito.

"Well, since you didn't wake up when Bee healed you wounds and then we came all the way back to the bridge builder's house, and you still hadn't woke up after a full night, I was becoming really worried. So Bee confessed what it was you were probably doing. So this is for you making me worry about you for nothing." Yugito said as she poured the hot cup of ramen on his crotch.

Gaara, Bee, Sasuke, Sora, Sakura, Kakashi, Tazuna, and Tsunami as face palmed as Naruto shot several feet off of the couch that he had been lying on and started crying large anime tears. Yugito was wearing a satisfied and smug expression as she watched her best friend land on the floor and glare back up at her.

"Ooh, you are so going to pay for that one!" Naruto said with a smirk as he jumped at Yugito and the two blonds fell to the floor wrestling.

Kakashi was still pretty shocked at the turn of events. He had been pretty damn certain for a while on that bridge that he was going to lose one and then two of his students. Then his worries were wiped away when these mysterious ninja appeared.

When it was revealed that one of them was Naruto, the son of his sensei, and the former Konoha resident Jinchuriki, the shock just began to escalate. He needed to get some answers, so that he could make some decisions.

He could tell by the way that those two blonds were wrestling that they were both really good friends, and he was so happy that his sensei's son had been able to find some happiness. He still remembered how the boy had lived alone for a little while before he had run away. He remembered how he didn't have anyone there for him except for the Hokage.

That is what brings him to his latest problem. He didn't know what he should do. He didn't know if he should even try to bring the boy back to Konoha. Not only was the boy obviously happy where he was, but he had already figured out the identity of the adult with the three children, it was so glaringly obvious. There was only one recorded ninja who used seven blades, one Kumo Jinchuriki, Killer Bee. There was no way he was going to try something with that man around.

Once he had returned to the house, he had summoned Pakkun and had him run a message back to the Hokage, but he didn't know if it would get there before these ninja left. Right now, he was really wishing that he could ask Minato for advice, but alas his sensei was dead. Since he honestly didn't know what to do, he decided to wait until he had heard back from the Hokage as to what they should do.

So as Yugito kneed Naruto in his crotch and made him produce a very high pitched scream of pain, he decided that even if he couldn't let on that he knew who Naruto was, he could at least try and figure out what they were doing here. However, he didn't have to as Bee walked over to Tazuna and showed him a scroll.

Being a little behind Tazuna, he discreetly read the scroll, and realized that they were there to collect payment on supplies and equipment that they had sold to the rebel group who were fighting against Gato and his corporation. Tazuna walked into a side room and came back and gave Bee a pouch that jingled a little.

Bee then went on to explain that they had a little side mission while they were here and asked if he had enough room for them to stay here while they completed said mission. That ended up sparking Kakashi's interest, and so he decided that he would keep an eye on them to figure out what it was they were up to.

So when Bee walked up to the redheaded boy whom had a tanuki mask on and gave him the go ahead to find Gato, he was mildly confused when the boy didn't even move a muscle. Filing it away for later, he decided that he would ignore the fact that he couldn't figure out how the boy was going to find Gato, and decided to focus on the fact that they were trying to find Gato.

"Secondary mission, hmm, I wonder what that might be." Kakashi thought to himself.

Konoha – Hokage Tower – Two Days after the Battle at the Bridge

"Pakkun, did you just say that Kakashi found Naruto?" Hiruzen Sarutobi said to the smile pug that was sitting on his desk panting as if he had just run all night long to get here as fast as he could, which is probably what he had done.

"Yes, Kakashi has found Naruto. He is with another Jinchuriki, one known as Killer Bee and they have two other companions. They are in the Land of Waves and Kakashi asked that I report this to you as fast as I could and that I should return with your orders." Pakkun panted out while looking around, what he would give for a bowl of water and some Beggin' strips right now.

"No need for you to relay another message, I am going to go there myself. It has been too long since I have seen that boy. Even if I can't get him to come back, I at least want to see him again." Hiruzen said as he stood up and went to tell his secretary to cancel any appointments that he had for the rest of the week.

"Hey, you got any Beggin' strips old man?" Pakkun asked while putting on his best puppy eyes.

"Right side, bottom drawer." Hiruzen said after failing to stand up against those puppy eyes.

He normally kept those for the Inuzuka that brought their partners inside the office. As Hiruzen left his office, Pakkun walked over and looked at the drawer for nearly a full minute before beginning to shed anime tears.

"I don't have thumbs." Pakkun said as couldn't open the drawer.

Land of Waves – Gato's Estate – Three Days after the Bridge Battle

A short man who was wearing a very expensive tailor made suit sat at his desk and listened to the report of two of the many samurai he hired to be his personal body guards. They were telling him about how they had tried to follow Zabuza and Haku, but they had lost them very quickly.

"Damn ninja, running away with their tails tucked. Are the ninja still protecting that bridge builder?" Gato asked his samurai as he lifted a cigar to his mouth and took a long pull on it before nearly choking on the smoke.

Hiding their smirks at their boss' attempts at looking tough, they told him about the Konoha ninja and then about the four other masked ninja that had appeared. Gato began cursing Kami and every single god that he could think of. While all of this was going on, not a single one of them noticed individual specks of sand shift in the air.

Land of Waves – Tazuna's House – Same Day

"Found him." Gaara said as he walked into the room that Tazuna had given them to use.

Bee was the only one in the room at the moment, seeing as Naruto and Yugito were off trying to come up with a grand design for some prank. They had been talking about this prank for nearly a month now and every chance they got they would sneak away and put their heads together. After all, they knew that two pranksters make a better prank than one prankster.

After explaining to Bee where the crooked businessman's estate was, he was tasked with going and finding their two blond companions. This was a job that he certainly didn't relish. He remembered the last time he had to go and find them when they were discussing this grand prank.

When he had found them, they had thought that he was trying to gain intel on their prank for the Raikage and Bee. Needless to say, they couldn't have that happening and so took their sweet time figuring out what he might have overheard. The pranks that they did to him to try and get him to confess still make him shiver when he thinks about it.

"Nope, you go and find those two." As he shivered and then walked out of the room leaving Bee with his mouth wide open.

It took him nearly three hours to find the place in the woods that the two blonds had decided to use for their planning. When he found them, he couldn't help but listen to their plan. When they found out that he was there and that he was listening, they both looked at each other and a thought passed between their minds.

A few seconds later a high pitched scream rent the air and everyone in the Land of Waves could hear it. Gaara shivered from his place at Tsunami's table when he heard it. When Sora heard the scream, he just knew that someone was pulling some evil pranks on the person who had just screamed. He couldn't stop himself as a smile appeared on his face.

Land of Waves – Gato's Estate – Four Days after the Bridge Battle

The four of them moved like ghosts throughout the house on their way to the bedroom that they knew Gato was sleeping in at the moment. Gaara, with his sensor capabilities with his sand, told them led the way. Every time they came upon someone, Naruto would appear behind them and choke them into unconsciousness.

Finally after nearly ten minutes of walking, they came upon a set of huge closed double doors. Inside the room lay one of the evilest and dirtiest men that they had ever heard of. Naruto looked at his companions as he thought about what he was about to do.

"We just need his head, right?" Naruto said in a whisper to Bee.

"His head will be fine, Mr. Nine." Bee rapped back before cowing underneath the three glares that were sent his way.

"Okay, I'll be back in a second." Naruto said before silently opening the door and walking through it.

Of the four of them, only two were truly willing to do this. Yugito couldn't bring herself to kill someone who was defenseless, no matter how evil he was or what he had done. Gaara was practically the same way, however if it came down to it he would.

Bee didn't like having to do it, but he had done it so many times before for missions and as a result he was numbed to it. Naruto was the only one who truly didn't mind doing it. He saw it as retribution for the many things the man had done, and he didn't really notice any difference between defenseless or not when it came to retribution.

Naruto pulled one of his chakra blades from his ankle holster and channeled wind chakra to it. Silently walking up to the bed, he walked over and looked down at the man and was about to decapitate him, when he suddenly stopped.

A whisper in the back of his mind was telling him to take it slow. To wake the man up and listen to him scream as he died. He recognized the whisper and the bloodlust behind it. Mentally telling himself that he needed to have a talk with his tenant about this later, he brought his chakra blade down and sliced cleanly through the muscles and bones that made up Gato's neck.

Stopping the flow of the wind chakra around his chakra blade, he replaced it inside its sheath before pulling a scroll out of his pack. Placing the scroll on the ground, he grabbed Gato's head by its hair and laid it down on the scroll. Quickly going through hand seals, Naruto finished the seals and slapped his hands down on two blank boxes on each end of the scroll.

With a puff of smoke, the head was sealed within the scroll. Naruto then rolled the scroll up and placed it carefully within his pack and when back to the door. Quietly opening it, he looked at his three companions before walking down the hallway they had come, his companions silently following.

The four of them decided to head out and start going back to Kumo instead of going back to Tazuna's house. As the four of them again flew over the ocean on Gaara's sand platform, Tazuna was walking towards his door as someone had knocked at it. Opening it, he was shocked to see who it was standing on his doorstep.

"May I come in?" Hiruzen Sarutobi said to the shocked Tazuna.

* * *

Well, I'll bet some of you were expecting me to have Sarutobi meet Naruto again. Nope. I just thought I would screw with all of your minds. That is just the way I am. My mind is scary. Anyways, I digress. Thanks for reading and reviewing on the last chapter. Remember to review this chapter, telling me what you think. I hope you all don't mind how I made the four of them out when it came to killing someone like Gato. Next chapter will have the three of them learning that they will be going to Konoha for the Chunin Exams. It will also show Naruto finally getting the hang of a barrier style fuinjutsu. Again, thanks for reading and reviewing. Till next time.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Kumogakure – Naruto's Room – Three Weeks after the Land of Waves

Naruto was sitting at a desk that he used as his study/work station. After he had returned from the land of waves, his team had been told by A and Bee that they were going to be participating in the upcoming Chunin Exams in Konoha. The exams were to start in nearly four weeks and the next morning marked the day that they were leaving to set out.

They had been given the first week to practice together on their teamwork and their collaboration jutsu. They had taken it seriously and had practiced all day long on the myriad jutsu that they had within their repertoire. The second week they were told to practice upon their solo techniques, since a portion of the exam was going to be a tournament styled fight.

So with that second week given to them each, Naruto had set down at his desk and cracked open one of the scrolls his father had left him as his inheritance. This particular scroll was the only place where information was written regarding the Flying Thunder God Technique. Not only did it contain the actual seal, but it explained the theory of how it worked.

Up until now, Naruto had been unable to make it work, but he was determined to get it down in the week that they had before they had to leave for the exams. He truly wanted to see the faces upon the Konoha ninja when he pulled off his father's patented technique. With that reasoning in mind, he had requisitioned a slightly different type of kunai. It was a three pronged kunai.

He had gotten the order in about halfway through the first week and had set about engraving the seal upon the kunai's handles. He had used a few hours each night and he had finished engraving each of the kunai by the end of the second week. However, he still hadn't been able to teleport.

That was the reason the blond could be found sitting at his desk while reading a scroll with his tongue sticking out at the corner of his mouth and his forehead was scrunched in concentration. He knew that his father had developed the flying thunder god technique by studying the Uzumaki seals and so he had decided nearly halfway through that if he was missing something, he would probably find it in these scrolls.

After nearly two days and two nights worth of rereading all of his Uzumaki scrolls, a connection between several theories that he hadn't made before popped into his head and he suddenly had one of those famed light bulb moments.

Quickly grabbing one of his kunai from his new pouch that he had to store his special kunai in, he threw it at his wall and tested the new connection that he had finally seen. His Namikaze scroll told him that he needed to will every cell in his body to teleport to that place.

He had just read an Uzumaki scroll that mentioned infusing chakra into cells in a particular part of the body to fuel techniques that utilized that particular part of the body. Earlier he had read another Uzumaki scroll that said when you infuse your cells with chakra, that those cells give up all other duties for an instant and subvert all of their attention towards accomplishing whatever task the chakra was sent to the cells for.

So utilizing all three of those theories together, Naruto infused every cell in his body with his chakra that he molded for the Flying Thunder God Technique and the next second there was an intense flash of yellow and he suddenly found himself an inch from his wall.

"AWESOME!" Naruto shouted at the top of his lungs after his brain registered the fact that he had finally been able to teleport, then he everything started to dim as he started losing consciousness. He had been up for two whole days and he had been low on chakra when he used that technique and it had drained almost every last bit he had.

Yugito walked in at that moment to see what all of the flash of light and his exclamation had been about and had to quickly grabbed Naruto as he lost consciousness and started to collapse from chakra exhaustion. Shaking her head and smiling at the blond, she cradled him in her arms and went to lay him down in his bed. She realized now what that flash meant and she couldn't be happier for her teammate and best friend.

Yugito laid him down on his bed and sat down next to him. She placed her palm on his cheek and couldn't help but stroke her fingers along his whisker marks. Suddenly she was beset with a warmth that she had experienced a few times before, each occurrence having to do with the blond that was lying down next to her.

After a few moments, she lay down next to him and laid her head on his chest and thought about that warmth that she kept experiencing. She didn't understand what it was, but she knew that it felt good and right. She wrapped her arms around Naruto's still form and after several minutes of blissful silence, she fell asleep.

Nobody knew it, but in the corner of Naruto's room, there was a man cloaked with his own invisibility jutsu. He had been watching over Naruto's progress and he had glowed with pride when Naruto had teleported with the flying thunder god technique. Now he had a content smile on his face as he watched the two blonds sleeping with smiles on their faces.

Jiraiya decided to take his leave and walked out of Naruto's room, still enshrouded with his technique and begun his trek to leave Kumo and make his way back to Konoha. After all, he wanted to be at the chunin exams to see everybody's faces when Naruto pulled that jutsu off too.

Konohagakure – Front Gates – Nearly a Week Later

Naruto's stomach was a roiling mess of nervousness and apprehension as he looked at the large wooden gates that marked the entrance to Konohagakure. He hadn't been here since that fateful day that he had decided to run away and he was experiencing the fight or flight response and his body was mind was screaming to fly while his body was stubbornly deciding to stay and fight.

He obviously wasn't going to be fighting, except in the exams, but it felt the exact same to him at that exact moment. The four of them were walking slowly towards the gates and even though Naruto had his fox mask that Bee had gotten him for the mission in the Land of Waves, they could easily see the tension in his muscles and hear the hitch in his voice.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity to Naruto, but was merely a few minutes, the four jinchuriki were at the gates and were being greeted by an assembly of ninja and dignitaries. This was a political event just as much as a test for the aspiring ninja after all.

Bee, Gaara, and Yugito allowed their eyes to scan over all of the faces present, but Naruto had eyes for only one man among those gathered to welcome them to Konohagakure. Likewise, the assembled people gazed at the four ninja in front of them, while three of their number also had eyes for only one of the Kumogakure ninja in front of them.

"Jiji, I've missed you so much!" Naruto cried out as he rushed forward and launched himself into the arms of the kindly old Hokage whom had a few tears trickling down his cheeks.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was a proud man and yet he didn't give a single care in the world as to who saw him openly crying. He had missed this little boy so much and for a long time he had just been so scared that something bad had happened to him.

Normally, ANBU would have quickly restrained anybody whom had attempted what Naruto had just done, but the kindly old man had foreseen and had secretly hoped for this particular reunion and so had made it crystal clear that if anybody even tried to lay a finger on the boy they would be spending a full week underneath the dual ministrations of none other than Ibiki Morino and Anko Mitarashi. Needless to say, the ANBU held themselves in check and didn't stop the boy from throwing himself into the Hokage's arms.

"Oh, I've missed you two little one. Oh how I have missed you." Hiruzen softly whispered to the boy whom he could tell was sobbing behind the fox mask that he wore.

After several moments, Naruto was finally able to pull himself together and he extracted himself from the old Hokage's arms. However, anybody whom knew the blond knew that he was still crying behind that fox mask.

"Naruto, I know that this is selfish of me, and that I probably have no right to ask this of you, but would you please come home. Konohagakure is where your father was born and your mother was raised. It was where they were married and it was where you were born. It is the place that your parents sacrificed themselves to protect and that gives you more claim to call this home than anybody else." Hiruzen lowered his head while he said this so that nobody could see the desperation in his eyes.

"I'm sorry Jiji, I truly am, but I think my parents would want me to be happy and I am happy where I am." Naruto sadly stated as the Hokage's eyes lifted up and he could tell that he had just broken the old man.

"I understand Naruto, I believe Minato and Kushina would want that too." Hiruzen said before a collective intake of breath came from many of the ninja and dignitaries behind him.

Finally Naruto found the ability to look at the others that were gathered behind the kindly old hokage, and he frowned behind his mask as his gaze settled on two different people. First his gaze settled upon the pervert he had found in Kumo peeking inside the bathhouse. He had no clue that the old pervert had been a Konohagakure ninja, and one of high ranking since he was one of those gathered to greet them at the gate.

The second person his gaze settled on was a person whom looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there at this precise moment. He could feel his churning stomach that had been upset from nerves suddenly stop churning as an extreme anger started bubbling from within him.

"Danzo, do be so kind as to meet me sometime outside the village by yourself. I would relish the chance to kick your ass." Naruto said in an icy tone, completely ignoring the looks of astonishment on several of the dignitaries and ninjas, as the Hokage finally noticed Naruto's sudden change in emotion and the direction of his glare.

Suddenly Danzo felt seven pairs of glares upon his figure and since four of them belonged to jinchuriki, one to the Sandaime Hokage, another to one of the Legendary Sannin, and the last to Kakashi of the Sharingan, he was unable to stop the shiver than ran the length of his spine at the amount of killing intent on the air.

"I do believe I will make my leave and allow the rest of you to entertain our guests." Danzo said as he was finally able to bring his bodily reactions back under control before quickly disappearing in a vortex of leaves via a shunshin.

"Pervert, just who the hell are you?" Naruto said with the bluntness of a tree branch a few moments after Danzo disappeared and his gaze once again settled upon Jiraiya.

"I'm glad you asked. I'm the hermit toad from Mount Myoboku. The wise and immortal spirit. That's right, it is I, the toad mountain sage. Men fall at my power. Women worship at my awesomeness. I am the one and only Jiraiya." Jiraiya said while tapping his geta sandals in a weird dance to a beat that only he could hear.

"You're an old pervert, that's what you are." Naruto said as he narrowed his eyes at the old man once he had finished hit little dance.

"I am no pervert. I am a super pervert!" Jiraiya shouted with pride as every ninja and dignitary within earshot face palmed at his obvious lack of scruples.

"Naruto, if you don't want to return, may I at least ask that you take ownership of the Namikaze clan estate. After all, you are the sole heir and they do belong to you, regardless of your village affiliations. As long as I am Hokage, you will always be welcome here and as such you will have a place to stay whenever you are here." Hiruzen said with a small sad smile once everyone got over their embarrassment at his former student.

"I would love that." Naruto said as he plastered a big smile on his face, his smile and happiness being infectious and causing the Hokage to cheer up despite their earlier conversation.

"Come then, I will show you and your comrades to the estate personally." Hiruzen said as he motioned his hand in a direction and started walking that way.

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Hello to all of you after the long time it has been since my last update on Kumo's Naruto Uzumaki. I apologize for how long it has taken to get this out, but with college and work I find it hard to find time to write. Thanks for reading and reviewing and remember to review and ask any questions that you might have. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Next chapter will begin the chunin exams and will most likely get at least halfway through the second exam if not all the way through it and to the beginning of the elimination fights. Till next time.


	16. Chapter 16

Okay, so here is the long awaited chapter 16. I am so sorry that it has taken so long for me to get this chapter out to you all and I am glad that you all decided to stick with me and wait it out. Before any of you ask, Temari and Kankuro will not be making a showing in the chunin exams. Temari and Kankuro are both older than Gaara and since he is a Kumogakure ninja instead of a Sunagakure ninja, they would have become a squad earlier than in canon and as a result would have become chunin earlier as well. However, I am not saying that you won't be seeing them anytime soon. You'll just have to wait and see how things turn out.

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Chapter 16

**Konohagakure – Week Before Chunin Selection Exams**

It was truly amazing the number of seals that his father had left at different places around the village. Naruto had glimpsed the first one inside the Namikaze Estate. It was his father's Flying Thunder God Technique Seal Matrix. Naruto had figured that if his father had placed a seal in his own house, for whatever reasons he might have had, then he might have placed seals at other locations as well.

In total, he was able to find another ten more seal matrixes. He found one at the hospital. He had found another in the Hokage's office. Another one he found at the main gate of the village. Another one he found at the Hokage Monument. The other six were placed throughout the village proper.

Naruto figured that there were probably some more matrixes in places that he just didn't have access to. For example, he imagined there was one wherever the ANBU Headquarters was located. He also imagined that there were locations outside the village that he had set up as safe houses that he could take his family to in case of an emergency. Hell, there might have been some inside some of the clan homes.

The search had taken up about three days out of his week that was allotted for extra training before the exams would begin. Since Naruto had disappeared on his search, Bee had made Yugito and Gaara forgo team training and train individually instead. After all, almost all of the different exams held in different villages included a non-team test.

After he was satisfied that he wasn't going to find anymore seal matrixes just lying around, Naruto sat down inside his father's study and began to read the many scrolls that were inside the estate. Many were merely notes that either he or Kushina had made before they had died, but there were a few that were jutsu or history scrolls. Most of them were identical matches to the scrolls that A had given him from his anonymous benefactor. However, there was one that he didn't have in his position and it was this one that caught his attention upon the last day before the exams started.

This scroll talked about the transfer of sealing matrixes to objects by touch. It explained that a pre-made sealing matrix could be applied to either a person or an object through the use of a special fuinjutsu. First, you would need a pre-made seal matrix drawn upon a paper small enough to fit in your palm.

Next, the scroll said to form the monkey, tiger, and then bird hand seals before channeling your chakra to the palm with the pre-made matrix. Once you gathered your chakra into your palm, you would touch whatever it was that you wanted to transfer the matrix to. The seal matrix would lift itself off of the paper and would attach itself to whatever you touched.

After reading through the instructions about the jutsu several more times, Naruto decided that it was time to practice it. He quickly drew the seal matrix for the Flying Thunder God Technique on a piece of paper and then placed it on his right palm. He quickly flipped through the monkey, tiger, and bird hand seals before he channeled chakra to his palm.

Then placed his palm down on the desk that he was using and he watched as the ink lifted itself off of the paper and slid down to attach itself to the desk. Standing up and walking towards the door, he then channeled the chakra to all of his cells like he had done in Kumogakure and he was suddenly enveloped in a bright yellow flash. He was immediately teleported to the desk.

**Konohagakure – Chunin Exams – Day 1**

Naruto, Yugito, and Gaara were all three walking down a winding path towards the academy building where they were to be given the information regarding their first exam. Bee had wished them all luck and had left earlier that day telling them that all of the jonin leaders were required to stay in a separate area away from the contestants and the exams. Obviously, they didn't trust jonin ninja not to cheat to help their students. Somewhere, Might Guy was crying that they believed that he could be so un-youthful.

The path that the three jinchuriki used to get from the Namikaze Estate to the academy gave them all a very relaxing and pleasant walk. On both sides and leaning over their heads were a multitude of different trees. The limbs were softly swaying in the light breeze and they could easily hear hundreds of birds singing their lovely tunes from high among the branches.

Under the trees they could glimpse a multitude of wildlife. There were deer, bison, monkeys, squirrels, and rabbits. Every once and a while they would see a snake bathing itself in the warm rays that the sun blessed Konohagakure with. Konohagakure was a true paradise.

Unfortunately, all good things have to come to an end at some time. After about twenty minutes of peaceful strolling, they came upon a scene that gave each varying reactions. Gaara was horrified at the scene taking place before his eyes. Yugito was quickly turning beet red with pure and unadulterated rage. Naruto just gave a weary sigh before latching his hand onto Yugito's to make sure she didn't do something stupid.

What was the scene that the three jinchuriki had walked upon you ask. Well, out in the middle of this jungle paradise, resided what was one of the many bathhouses built for shinobi to take a break and relax. At the moment, the only people using the bathhouse happened to be a splattering of local and visiting jonin kunoichi.

Now, that wasn't the scene itself that made them all react in their varying ways. What made them react the way they had was the presence of three male shinobi peeking in on the kunoichi side of the bathhouse. When I say that three of them were peeking, I truly meant that two of them were peeking and the third looked really, really uncomfortable.

The two shinobi that were peeking in on the kunoichi side of the bathhouse were none other than Asuma Sarutobi and Kakashi Hatake. The lone male shinobi that actually dreaded being where he was at this exact moment was Konoha's green beast himself, Might Guy. While Asuma and Kakashi were giggling like schoolgirls, Guy was softly mumbling about his flames of youth being considerable dimmed by his companion's very un-youthful behavior.

At this point, Yugito was shaking in her barely controlled rage. Naruto and Gaara both looked at each other and nodded as if they had come to some silent agreement. Within seconds Naruto and Gaara both clamped their hands over Yugito's mouth and started dragging her away from the perverted scene taking place at the bathhouse.

They had been mere seconds away from being too late when they had grabbed her and started dragging her away from the bathhouse. Once they were a good distance away from the bathhouse, they felt that they could allow Yugito to talk again and release the hands that were covering her mouth. They had to immediately cover her mouth again as she began screaming about perverts and the punishments that they deserved.

It took a little while, but they were finally able to get Yugito to calm down enough that she wasn't going to be screaming her head off anymore. However, they didn't take one thing into their quick deliberations when they had decided to drag the girl away from giving those perverts a beating of a life time. You see, they had dragged her away, and now she was content with just giving them a beating of a life time.

So that peaceful and relaxing stroll that they had been experiencing turned into a run for their lives for two of them and a maddened chase for the third. Naruto and Gaara were able to keep out of Yugito's reach long enough to make it to the outskirts of the village proper and once there she had to give up her chase for retribution.

"Just so you two know, I am going to get you back when you least expect it." Yugito said in a sweetly innocent tone of voice while cracking her knuckles.

All the two boys could do were to envision their own long and bitter sweet beatings that they were going to get from the girl. Finally the three of them reached the academy building and they each walked inside. They had been told to meet in room 301 and since they were expecting some kind of genjutsu to weed out the chunin hopefuls that shouldn't even be genin, they were extremely surprised when they found no such thing.

The three of them shared confused glances before walking inside the room designated room 301. Within seconds of them getting inside the classroom, Gaara found himself being smothered in a rather fierce hug. This hug was being given to him by Kumogakure's resident redheaded hothead, Karui. Within seconds, Gaara began turning into a tomato.

Naruto and Yugito both just stood there and laughed at their teammate's expense. Similar occurrences had been going on for a while since Gaara had moved to Kumo, and it was extremely amusing. What was so amusing about it was that Karui is always very expressive with her emotions, and Gaara just happened to be the cause of some of her less aggressive emotions.

"I'm so glad that you all made it. Now the entire gang is here." Karui said from her place on Gaara's back.

"Yeah, but since they're all here, that means that if we don't lose to some other team, and if they don't lose to some other team, then we'll have to face each other. However, if you do lose to some other team, then we'll still have to face that powerful team, and it might make us lose. If we lose, then the Raikage might decide that we aren't cut out to be ninja anymore." Omoi said from around the sucker that he always had in his mouth before inhaling the sucker as Karui punched him in the gut.

"Shut up Omoi. You always over think things and it gets on my nerves." Karui said as she shook her fist at the poor boy who was the cause of one of her more aggressive emotions.

"Cool it you two, your just attracting unwanted attention." Samui whispered as she started seeing several other genin squads looking in their direction.

At her statement, Karui got herself together and Omoi found the strength to stand tall and breathe normally again, a sucker once again in his mouth. Gaara had a relieved expression on his face now that Karui was no longer lying across his shoulders. Naruto and Yugito had finally got their laughing under control even though if one looked closely enough they could see that both blonds' mouths were twitching in contained mirth.

All of the Kumogakure genin took a sweeping look at the competition that they would be competing against for the rank of chunin, and to be completely honest with themselves, they weren't impressed. First, of the nearly fifty squads that were crammed in the room, about thirty of them were showing open animosity towards their own teammates.

In Kumogakure, that was one of the first things that they taught you. Teamwork was a very essential ninja skill; one that many here seemed to believe was totally below them. The level of animosity ranged from open competition of the not so friendly type, all the way towards pure and unadulterated hate.

Most of the Konohagakure squads were either completely free of the animosity that the others felt, or they were just better at hiding their own emotions. Sunagakure was close to Konohagakure case, but there were a few that were plainly looking down upon their teammates as if they were just dead weight.

It was the Iwagakure team that was the worst case. Each member of the three squads present for the exams looked at everybody, including their own teammates, with an unnatural level of loathing and contempt. Naruto likened their emotions to arrogance of the highest standard which made them think that everyone else was so far below them and that they deserved their contempt and loath.

The Kumogakure genin found a corner of the room and stood there to wait for the exam to start. They had to wait for nearly twenty minutes while quitely talking amongst themselves before their exam proctor finally appeared. With a resounding bang and a large billow of smoke, a tall and broad shouldered man wearing a grey long sleeved shirt and a matching pair of pants with a black trench coat over them appeared. This man also wore his hitai-ate like a bandana over his head and he had several scars that marred his face.

"Alright you maggots, listen closely because I am only going to say this once. I am your proctor for the first exam. My name is Ibiki Morino." Ibiki said in a dark and gravelly voice at which a lot of the present genin starting shaking when he introduced himself.

Now, being ninja from Konohagakure, you wouldn't know of Ibiki unless you had broken some really big law and had him interrogate you or you had in some other way some connection with the Torture and Interrogation Department of Konohagakure's ANBU. However, the same could not be said for the foreign ninja participating in the exams.

Nearly seventy five percent of the participating foreign genin had heard stories of the famous interrogator Ibiki Morino. Some of those stories were very detailed which is why many of the genin were currently shaking in their sandals and trying not to soil their clothes. Ibiki just smiled evilly at all of the fearful faces looking up at his towering image.

"Now then, your first exam is fairly simple. Again, listen closely because I will only explain this once." Ibiki said with a glint in his eye as he looked around at the participating genin and couldn't help but allow himself to indulge his slightly evil side as he turned on some killing intent to liven the mood up a little more.

When they had heard who their first proctor was and they had compared him to the many stories that they had heard of him, many of the participating genin had trouble not soiling their pants. However, the moment that he put on his killing intent, several genin from different villages, Omoi included, suddenly felt the front of their pants get rather wet and warm.

The only thing that stopped anyone from commenting on the genin who had pissed their pants, was the fact that everyone else was still trying their best not to do the same. After a few moments, Ibiki let off of the killing intent and most of the genin found themselves releasing breaths that they hadn't known they were holding.

"For your first exam, you will be split up from your team and you will be taken into separate rooms. None of you will be allowed to leave your rooms until one you give a specific code word to a guard stationed outside your room. If none of you speak the code word within five hours, than you and your teammates will fail the first exam. In these rooms, you will find a prisoner waiting for you. This prisoner will know the code word that you need to proceed onto the second exam. You will have to interrogate your prisoner by any means that you deem necessary to obtain your code word. Now, my assistants will take you to your designated rooms." Ibiki said before another loud bang followed by a plume of smoke dispersed to reveal nearly twenty chunin assistants who quickly went about directing the genin towards their chosen rooms.

**Konohagakure – Chunin Exam 1 – Naruto's Interrogation**

Naruto blinked his eyes as he tried to become accustomed to the dark of the interrogation room that he had been led to before being locked inside. After few minutes, he was able to see the contents of the room and what he saw gave him shivers.

The room was about ten feet by ten feet. Along all of the walls were shelves with many different instruments. There were screws, drills, blades of all sizes and types, and there were a few mallets. Every single one of the tools looked as if it had dried blood caked onto them.

In the center of the room, there was a lone chair with a medium built person shackled to the chair. Underneath the chair was a drain for any spilt blood to drain away through. Naruto frowned and felt like he was about to heave as he looked at the man sitting in the chair and he thought about what he was supposed to do.

He wasn't able to see the man's face for there was a bag over his head, but that was the only thing that clung to the man's body. They had stripped the man naked in preparation for the interrogation, and Naruto shivered he looked at several large scars that ran across the man's body. He had an idea that this wasn't this guy's first interrogation. Suddenly, Naruto looked down at his hand and had to mentally slap himself to get himself to stop shaking.

"This your first time, huh." The man strapped to the chair suddenly asked as if he could sense Naruto's own trepidation at what he was about to have to do.

The man just cocked his head and Naruto had the distinct feeling that if the cloth wasn't over the man's head, that they would be staring each other down, having a contest of willpower. After a few minutes, which felt like hours to Naruto, the man slumped forward again.

After a few more minutes of silence, Naruto started to silently walk forward towards the prisoner. He didn't like that he had to do this, but he knew that skills like this were a necessary evil for ninja in the field. Information could save your own life or that of someone you hold dear, if not your entire village, and so interrogation was a necessary skill for a chunin to possess.

"I'll only ask you this once. What is the code word?" Naruto asked in a soft tone that held within it a hint of desperation.

He truly didn't want to have to interrogate this man, but since he had remained silent after his question, Naruto knew he had no other choice. He walked over to the shelves and glanced at all of the tools while pushing down his bile and humanity so that he could accomplish this inhumane task. Naruto picked up a rusty scalpel and got to work.

For nearly the first twenty minutes, the restrained prisoner made no sounds of pain whatsoever. However, it would have appeared that was where his pain threshold was. For the next hour and a half, the only sounds that could be heard coming from the interrogation room were that of muffled screams. The screams were guttural and pain filled as they burst from the prisoner's throat.

Inside the room where the prisoner was screaming in pain, Naruto was working against his own consciousness and humanity so that he could proceed onto the next exam while allowing his tears to fall down his sweaty cheeks. Finally, close to two and a half hours later, the prisoner decided he'd had enough.

"Fine, fine, the code word is Kumogakure, just stop hurting me!" The prisoner croaked out as his raw throat burned from his time spent continuously screaming.

Naruto just stopped the scalpel that he had imbedded in the man's leg and cocked his head up to look at him. He couldn't really tell if the man was telling the truth or not, but he reasoned he truly had no reason to lie. All he had to do was call out the word and if it was wrong he would know within seconds and would just begin the tortuous work he had been set.

So Naruto slowly and carefully removed the scalpel from the man's flesh and then placed it upon one of the many shelves before walking over to the door. Once at it, he moved a small flap on it to the side and looked out at the guard stationed across from his door. Naruto gave the code word and watched as the ninja walked over and unlocked his door to let him out.

"I'm sorry that I had to do all of that. Thank you for making it to where I didn't have to do anymore." Naruto said to the prisoner without ever turning around as he walked out of the room and attempted to place his memories of this exam back into the farthest recesses of his mind.

Unknown to Narutoas he walked away, the prisoner whom he had been torturing released a henge that it had upon itself only to reveal a clone of Ibiki Morino himself before it was dispelled. As Naruto was shown to the room where the other genin whom had already passed the first exam waited for their teammates, Ibiki received his clone's memories of the torture session and allowed a small smile to come to his face.

"At least not everyone revels in torture." Ibiki thought to himself before frowning as he processed some slightly more gruesome memories from some other clones that had dispelled.

When Naruto entered the room where all of the genin were to wait for their teammates, he quickly scanned the small crowd of genin looking for his blond and redheaded teammates. Quickly realizing that they weren't among the crowd, he looked to see if he recognized any of the other genin and realized rather quickly that he did indeed.

None of the other Kumogakure genin were present at the moment, but he saw an unmistakable bubblegum pink colored head of hair sitting next to an even more recognizable head of hair that resembled a duck's butt. He could easily figure out how the duck butt had gotten through so fast, for he knew the crest the boy wore was that of the Uchiha's clan, and he knew that the Sharingan can create genjutsu. What he couldn't figure out was how the pink haired girl had finished so quickly. Even more so than that was how she didn't seem fazed in the slightest about what she had just had to go through.

That got the cogs in his brain going in overdrive as he sat down and waited for his teammates or for Omoi, Samui, and Karui to finish. He didn't have any doubt that they would succeed, for they all knew that things like this were an integral part of a chunin, and they wouldn't allow something this small to stand in their way.

Naruto came up with several theories of what the girl's skills might consist of, genjutsu being one of those theories. However, until he was able to see her skills in action, he wouldn't know for sure and so he laid his head back against the wall he was standing against and closed his eyes.

He stood like that for nearly twenty minutes before Samui walked in and after a quick glance around the room came over to stand next to him. Naruto looked over at her and gave her a small smile which she returned. Not really having much too talk about and certainly not wanting to know what she had to do to convince her prisoner to talk, Naruto again rested his head against the wall and closed his eyes while he patiently waited for his teammates to join them.

Thirty minutes later found Gaara silently walk in and walk in their direction without even glancing around first. Naruto certainly envied his teammate's sensory skills that he was granted through the use of his sand. After nodding his head to his teammate and receiving a nod in return, Naruto again rested his head against the wall.

Another twenty minutes passed before Omoi walked in sucking on his ever present sucker. He had a shifty look in his eye and Naruto could easily see a heavy sheen of sweat on the boy's face as he made his way over. Samui graced her teammate with a small smile and Naruto and Gaara both nodded in his direction.

Another ten minutes later showed Karui and Yugito both walking inside the room. Karui looked the same way that Naruto always thought she looked, but Naruto was able to tell that there was something wrong with Yugito. He could see it in her eyes and in her slouched shoulders. She always walked tall and her eyes were always vibrant, but Naruto could swear that she looked numbed to the world.

Yugito stopped next to him and set her chin upon her chest without acknowledging any of her teammates or fellow Kumogakure genin. At this point, Naruto was truly getting worried for her. He knew that what he had been forced to do was gruesome, but he didn't truly think that it could break any of his teammates. Looking at Yugito's defeated attitude, Naruto wanted nothing more than to wrap her in a hug and try and take her pain away.

However, that wasn't to be since their proctor chose that moment to come inside and congratulate the genin squads that had passed for moving onto the next exam. After his congratulations speech, a chunin shunshined into the room and they were directed to follow him to the second part of the exam. Their walk took nearly thirty minutes, but finally they found themselves at a large gated area with a sign that said the Forest of Death.

It was there that they met their second exam's proctor. The remaining twenty three squads had been standing outside of the gated area for nearly thirty minutes when they heard a rumbling beneath their feet. Many of the ninja just looked curiously at the ground, but a few were wise enough to start backing up.

Within seconds, the rumbling sound ceased before the ground where it had come from violently shot into the air in a spray of dirt and rocks. All of the ninja had been able to jump back at the last second and they all looked up in either awe or fear the behemoth that towered above them. Looking down at them with golden eyes with slits for pupils, a twenty foot green and brown snake flicked its forked tongue into the air to taste the pheromones in the air that was caused by the genin on the ground that were shivering in fear.

Upon this behemoth of a snake, a woman that was about five foot and eight inches in height looked down upon the genin with a gleam in her eye. This woman had brown eyes and bluish brown hair that was styled in a spiky ponytail which is kept out of her eyes with her hitai-ate proudly displayed upon her forehead.

What this woman passed off as clothing was a tan overcoat with a mesh body suit, stretching from her neck down to her mid-thighs, underneath it. Nestled within her generous bust was a snake's fang that dangled upon a thick cord. The only clothing over her body suit is a small burnt orange mini skirt. She also wore blue sandals with pale grey shin guards.

Now, because of the overly impressive and terrifying behemoth of a snake that towered over the genin, not a single one had noticed the underdressed kunoichi. Anko couldn't have any of that and so she quickly dispelled her snake summon and allowed herself to fall to the forest floor from her previous height.

Channeling chakra to her legs to strengthen her muscles and bones, Anko landed in a crouch before standing up and laying herself across the shoulders of a nearby male genin while smirking as she felt many lust filled gazes rove over her body along with a few glares from the attending genin kunoichi. After making a show of cutting the male genin's cheek and licking the freely flowing blood, she scrunched her face to show her distaste of the boy's blood.

"Creepy old bat." Naruto mumbled quietly to himself, but obviously not quietly enough as his eyes widened in fear as Anko suddenly appeared behind him and subsequently laid her body across his shoulders.

"Creepy old bat, huh. Well, let's have a taste of your blood shall we." Anko said before slicing his cheek open with her kunai and flicking her tongue over the small cut before a look of bliss and lust overcame her features.

The reactions to Anko's antics were varied. Naruto felt a shiver go down the length of his spine and he couldn't stop the groan that the woman's antics brought forth from his lips. He might detest perverts, but he was still a budding teenager and he had the raging hormones to prove it. Yugito sent a glare Anko's way and boy if looks could kill.

Omoi was off in another world where he was contemplating what would happen if Anko seduced his friend Naruto and the possibilities made his eyes glaze over in horror. Karui and Samui were looking in Anko's direction with disgust clearly written upon their faces. Gaara looked like he was about to bust his gut from holding his laughter back. His teammates always teased him about how Karui would do this exact thing to him and since the roles were reversed he was able to see the pure hilarity of it.

"Oh, you like that, don't you? Aw, did I make someone's girlfriend mad?" Anko said when Naruto groaned and when she noticed that Yugito was glaring at her.

At her statement, Naruto and Yugito both started to blush a very dark shade of red and Anko couldn't help but allow the chuckle to escape her lips. The scene unfolding in front of her was just too cute and she loved screwing with little genin. It was a favorite pastime, ranking up there with dango and sake.

"Oh relax; you don't have to bother trying to deny it. I'm just screwing with you." Anko said once she saw the myriad of emotions that they suddenly were beset with flicker across their faces. As fun as it would have been to toy with them some more, she knew that she needed to be starting the second exam, and she had to admit that hearing the screams come from the forest would bring her even more pleasure than screwing with two genin.

When Anko had teased them by saying that Yugito was his girlfriend, unbeknownst to everyone, they had both felt a flicker of that warmth that they had felt at different times and the proverbial light bulb had gone off in each of their heads. Within the time that it had taken them to blink, all of the times that they had each felt that familiar warmth flicker inside of them had cascaded in front of their eyes and just as quickly the answer that they had both wondered over was as clear as day. They finally knew what their feelings for each other were.

However, there was only one problem, one whopping problem that made them both experience immeasurable amounts of doubt and fear at the same time. They had no clue as to whether or not the other one felt the same way towards them and they also didn't know if they would be able to take it if they didn't. As fast as the warmth had flickered and raged for an instant after the realization of what their emotions were had dawned, it was suddenly snuffed out of existence within the hurricane that now made up their emotional state.

For good or for bad, they were immediately given something else to think about and take their minds off of this recent development. Anko started to explain the rules for the second exam after extracting herself from Naruto's shoulders and appearing in a swirl of leaves at the forefront of the group via a shunshin.

"Okay kiddies, the second exam is very simple. For five days and five nights you all are going to be locked within this training facility here and you won't be allowed until the very end. Your probably wondering just what the meaning of this exam is, aren't you? Well, here it is kiddies, survive." Anko said with an evil smirk when she received only questioning looks before they were turned to fear instantly when a very loud roar came from behind her inside the training facility.

"There are no rules, everything is permitted. Only the squads whose members are all fit to fight will be allowed to progress onto the third and final exam. Now then, each of you needs to step up to a gate and prepare for your worst nightmares. When the bell tolls, you'll be shut inside the training facility and your second exam will begin. Watch out for the carnivorous plants, they love the taste of genin blood." Anko said with an evil lilt to her voice before watching the many squads start walking towards a gate.

Once all of the genin were at a gate, they didn't have to wait long for seconds later the bell tolled and their gates opened instantly before closing behind them. Naruto, Yugito and Gaara took off into the large trees the moment their gate snapped shut behind them with a resounding click. Their first objective would be to find a place to sleep and survive throughout the night. Five minutes later each of them found their hair standing on end when they heard a blood curdling scream filter through the training ground. The second exam had officially begun.

* * *

I hope you all loved the chapter. I appreciate all of you that reviewed on the previous chapter and I truly appreciate all of you who have favorited and followed the story. Okay, so please review and tell me what you all think about this chapter. Remember, we authors love those reviews because it not only boosts our egos to universal highs, it also tells us what we are doing right and wrong. Thanks again for reading and thanks in advance for your reviews. Till next time.


	17. Notice

Notice

I am sorry to do this to you, all of my faithful readers whom have enjoyed my stories so much. Wow, that sounded as if I was beginning an 'I Quit' notice, didn't it. No, that isn't what this is for. Due to some recent revelations, I have gone through all of my stories and reread them. All of them have certain areas where I feel that they need work and improvement. Maybe this is just the author in me, or maybe I am actually right, who knows. All I know is that I am going to delete all of the chapters posted so far and start rewriting them. I will rewrite my stories one chapter at a time, and will switch between each of my stories once I get a chapter done, so that I can give each and every one of my faithful readers a chance to read something and not neglect certain stories. Most of the content and storyline will remain the same; however, I will be expanding upon certain characters that I realize now I neglected. Certain events that I merely mentioned will now be written about as they happen instead of mere back thought by the characters. So, if you're wondering whether it will be worth going back to reread the chapters that you've already read, your answer is yes. I hope that I don't lose any of you, but if you do decide to drop my story, I'll understand. Also, as a reminder, if you are reading one of my stories, I have several others going on that you might enjoy so go and check them out. I also have a beta for at least one of my stories, and I'll see if they wouldn't mind being the beta for the rest. If they won't the other stories will have to take a slight back burner until I can get the beta for them. Again, I express my desire for you to remain patient and to continue to read my stories. Thanks, as always, for without readers and fans, a writer is a nobody.

Ps. I'll keep this notice up for about a month so that hopefully all of you whom have followed my stories get a chance to see it and aren't confused when you suddenly notice that all of the chapters you had once read are now gone.


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